


Eggmans Elves

by Sonofsonamy



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27353623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sonofsonamy/pseuds/Sonofsonamy
Summary: Idw after the virusIt has been months since Eggmans last defeat. Sonic is nervous that his nemesis has not made a move  but with Christmas looming his friends are getting complacent.His fears come true when children across Mobius  are kidnapped.  With the help of his friends the blue blur must fight to stop Eggmans most devious plot yet!
Relationships: Amy Rose & Sonic the Hedgehog
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

In a small, quiet village tucked away near the forest snowflakes fell gently down to the ground and carpeted the rooftops and cobbled streets. It brought the already slow paced lifestyle of the sleepy villages inhabitants to a virtual standstill. Despite there only being five more shopping days until Christmas most had opted to stay inside and light their fires rather than make the journey into town. The villagers were making the most of their time inside by baking festive treats for eachother and wrapping the gifts they had hidden away ahead of the big day. Safe in their homes they carefully placed their precious presents under even more carefully decorated tree.

But for one of the villages inhabitants the seasons glad tidings and the excitement of guessing what Santa may bring paled in comparison to the thrilling adventures he was used to. Tucked away in an untidy house filled with broken computer parts and dismantled robots, Sonic the hedgehog lay snoozing in a hammock by the window. Outside fresh snowflakes tumbled gently to the ground, adding to the days snowfall.

At least the hedgehog gave the impression that he was dozing. In truth he was bored. It had been some time since his arch nemesis Dr Robotnik had attacked. The blue hedgehog somehow doubted that Eggman had decided to give the restoration a break for the holidays and wondered why no attempt had been made to regain his power over the Eggman Empire.

Since Jewel the beetle had taken over the restoration project from Amy Rose they had all been working hard to rebuild the towns and villages destroyed by the war and ravaged by the metal virus. Life was slowly getting back to normal for everyone. Sonic supposed that he should feel happy about that but couldn't help but feel unnerved. Those loyal to the restoration had searched high and low but found no sign of either the evil doctor or his lakey. Starline. It was as though they had disappeared off of the face of the earth. He and his best friend Tails had done their own digging. They had visited a few of Eggmans abandoned bases, swiped a load of tech and scrutinized it for any indication what the doctors next move might be. So far nothing had turned up. Sonic could see that his friends focus on finding their enemies was waning. Even Tails seemed a little distracted as he sat at his desk by the fire examining data swiped from their latest raid on an underground base in green hills. The two tailed foxes eyes kept wandering over to the window above Sonic. Eventually Sonic sighed and turned to his oldest companion.

"What's up buddy?" The hedgehog asked.

Tails turned his face away from the window quickly and stared at the screen in a clear attempt to look as though he was fully focused on his work. "Nothing." The boy said unconvincingly. "Nothings up."

Sonic rolled out of the hammock and stretched as his feet landed on the wooden floor. He made his way carefully around the piles of scrapped robots to the desk where Tails was failing to look riveted by the numbers and stats on the screen. Sonic placed a reassuring hand on the foxes shoulder and Tails relaxed a little.

"It's just that… well we've all been working really hard at the moment." The fox said quickly. "You more than anyone and I know you're worried about eggman coming back and I know you hate Christmas but.."

"I don't HATE Christmas." Sonic interrupted. Tails raised an unconvinced eyebrow.

"I don't." Sonic reiterated. "I just don't see what the big deal is."

Tails mouth hung open as he shook his head incredulously. "It's about spending time with your family."

Sonic shrugged. "I spend most of my time with you anyway." The hedgehog pointed out.

Undeterred the little fox continued, determined to make his friend see what was so special about the season.

"You get presents and lots of yummy food." Tails insisted.

Again Sonic was unconvinced. "I have everything that I need." He pointed out. "And give me a chili dog over turkey any day."

Looking at his young friend Sonic could see that Tails felt very passionately about the subject. His eyes had grown wide and were sparkling at the thought of all of the presents and decorations. As much as the hedgehog disliked the holidays and as worried as he was about Eggmans next attack he could clearly see what Christmas meant to his best buddy. Reluctantly he relented.

"Fine." Sonic sighed. "I guess we can down tools for a bit and do something festive. What would you like to do?"

Tails leapt up excitedly and bounced on the balls of his feet which at least brought a smile to Sonics face. Sometimes, with all that they had been through, it was easy to forget that Tails was still just a kid.

"Can we go into town Sonic? PLEASE? There's a new toy shop there and there's a Santa in the town square! I know it's not REALLY Santa. It's for little kids really but it might be cool to check it out."

Sonic laughed aloud at the sudden change in his friend from dutiful scientific genius trying to decode a sinister doctors broken technology to a little kid overcome with excitement at the idea of seeing Santa.

"Come on then buddy." Sonic smiled as he crossed over to the doorway and grabbed a red scarf and hat from the coat rack. Tails rushed over and grabbed his own plus a puffy brown coat to keep out the cold.

"Can we get a hot chocolate to?" He squeaked excitedly. "And some decorations for the tree?"

"We don't have a tree."

"Can we get a tree?"

Sonic groaned and rubbed his temples as they trudged through the snow towards town. What had he let himself in for?

The two heroes had not yet arrived in town as Amy Rose jostled her way through the bustling crowds of shoppers pouring into the town square. The square doubled as the towns main shopping precinct. Currently it was decorated with twinkling light and wreaths of holly. Each lamppost was brightly festooned with tinsel and streamers. In the middle of the square stood a large metal grotto where the children were lined up with their parents. The little ones stood on tiptoe and craned their necks as the desperately tried to get a glimpse of the jolly red man inside. The grotto had not yet opened and some of the children were becoming restless. With a smile Amy noticed Cream stood very still and behaving impeccably as her mother stood by her side. Vanilla the rabbit was trying hard not to look down on the badly behaved children stood ahead of them in the queue. Amy noticed that there weren't many children lined up. Maybe three or four. During the last war many families had fled the cities which were being overran by Eggmans forces. Amy was pleased to see life finally returning to the town.

As Amy made her way carefully across the pavement. The snow was now turning to mush with all of the people milling around and was beginning to soak through the pink hedgehogs boots. As she reached the toyshop Amy saw Cream spot her through the crowd. The little rabbit lost her composure. Her ears began to flap wildly as she jumped up and down and drew her mothers attention to Amy. Amy didn't need to be a lip reader to work out that Vanilla was scolding her daughter for pointing. Creams ears pressed down against her head. Amy smiled broadly as she made her way over. A metal barrier had been put up to separate the queue for Santa from the rest of the shoppers. Cream lent against it as Amy approached.

"Miss Rose!" The little rabbit exclaimed. "I'm going to see Santa!"

Amy laughed, happy to see her youngest friend enjoying herself after what had been a hard year for everyone. Amy vividly remembered having to wrench the poor dear away from her mother when Vanilla had been infected by the metal virus.

"Hi Cream!" Amy responded. "Good afternoon Vanilla."

Creams mother nodded politely. In the little rabbits arms a small blue creature made his presence known.

"Chao Chao!"

"Don't worry cheese. I haven't forgotten you either." Amy patted the small Chao affectionately. "No G-merl?"

"He's back home keeping an eye on dinner for me." Vanilla explained. "He's such a dear. I don't know what I'd do without him."

Amy nodded her agreement. "It must be great having an extra pair of hands at this time of year."

"Are you out doing a spot of last minuet shopping?" Vanilla inquired politely.

Amy shook her head. "Oh no I got that done weeks ago." She said proudly. "I just love this time of year and wanted to go and have a look around at all of the displays. Besides, you never know if you're going to find a cute last minute gift for your best friend." The pink hedgehog winked at the small rabbit who suddenly lost all composure.

"Me?" She cried. "Mother! Amy's getting me a present!"

Vanilla smiled genially. "Yes dear." She said. "Remember, it's not polite to shout."

Cream looked embarrassed and apologized to Amy who tried not to look to amused. A flashing sign above the grotto drew Amys attention.

FIVE MINUETS UNTIL SANTA KIDS! No parents allowed in the grotto…

Cream was visibly shaking now. Vanilla smoothed her dress and patted her daughter gently on the shoulder. Deciding to leave them to it Amy bid them both goodbye with a promise that she would meet them both in the town cafe for a hot chocolate and a gingerbread man.

The pink hedgehog made her way towards the toyshop. She knew deep down that she was a little too old for toys but there was something special about a toyshop at Christmas time. Amy had missed out on so much of her own childhood due to Robotniks war. She loved to see others enjoying themselves and living the life she was denied.

The toyshop was the most crowded of all of the shops in the square. Most had just come in to see the spectacular window display. The owner had really gone to town this year. A large train set ran the length of the window with many of the stores more popular toys mingled in with the traditional Santa's and elves.

Amy was unsurprised to see what the most popular toy was this year. A cocky smile looked down on her from almost every shelf of the toyshop. Sonic was everywhere. Amy moved closer to inspect some of the action figures. Not only was the blue blur featured but the rest of the restoration had been immortalized in plastic, each with its own unique feature. Sonics turned into a small ball at the press of a button. Tails 'really flew' the toys twin brushes whirling behind him and Amys own toy came with a large Piko Piko hammer. Amy rolled her eyes and moved closer to the window display. She could see all of her friends action figures dotted around the makeshift version of the town. As Amys eyes fell on her own figure her cheeks went as bright as Santa's hat. Positioned in a loving embrace the small plastic version of Amy Rose was canoodling with a smug looking Sonic toy under a piece of mistletoe. Burning with embarrassment Amy looked around to see if anyone was watching and as surreptitiously as she could she swapped herself for Knuckles.

She was just stepping back to admire her handiwork when a sudden loud noise outside shook the building. Outside in the square people were running and screaming. Amy stared through the window display to where the doors of the grotto had slammed shut. Desperate parents were beating their fists against them. Even Vanilla seemed to have lost all composure and was whacking it as hard as she could with her umbrella.

Amy ran out into the square, summoning her hammer as she ran.

She screamed "Out of the way!" and the crowd parted allowing her access to the grotto. Amy hit the doors with all of her might and braced her arms as the force reverberated back into her body. She had left a small dent but not enough. She tried again.

"Please Miss Rose!" Vanilla begged.

Gritting her teeth Amy decided to focus on the bottom of the grotto doors. She hit them hard and made a very small opening which she could just about fit her hand through. It wasn't enough. As Amy hit the door again, widening the gap a little more. Inside the grotto Amy could hear the children's frightened screams. As Amy swung again the target moved in front of her. The grotto was lifting from the ground. Desperately Amy leapt forwards at the door and shoved her right arm through. She felt someone take hold on the other side.

"M..ms Rose?" Cream called tentatively.

Amy looked down as the town grew smaller and smaller beneath her. She was no stranger to heights having regularly flown on the wings of Tails plane but at least then she had something solid beneath her feet. She dismissed her hammer which vanished with a pop and shoved her other arm in through the small gap.

"Don't let go Cream!" Amy instructed.

Through the gap Amy felt more hands grab her own as she dangled over the edge of the grotto. She looked all around for any sign of where they might be headed. Thats when she saw it looming in the distance. A larger ship with several docking bays. Etched on the side in red was a familiar symbol a grinning mustachioed face.


	2. Chapter 2

Sonic and Tails had notice the large metal shuttle shooting out of the sky before they even reached the town. The pair were still some way off from the town center when it erupted skyward leaving a trail of black smoke but Sonic closed the distance between them and the town in moments. Tails trailed shortly behind, his twin brushes whirling behind him. As the blue hedgehog sped through the slippy snow covered streets the sound of screaming filled his ears. The screams did not appear to be screams of terror, more of anguish at something that had already happened. Sonic was almost disappointed to have missed whatever had attacked.

He skidded to a halt in the main square where most of the townspeople seemed to have congregated. Sonic scanned the area for any signs of danger, no badnicks or other bots. He had indeed missed the action. Looking around Sonics eyes met a familiar face.

"Vanilla." He called as he rushed over. "What happened?"

The rabbits eyes were filled with tears which she delicately dabbed with a clean white handkerchief.

"Oh Sonic." She sniffed. "They took the children! They took my poor little Cream."

Sonics face fell. "Who took them? Tell me everything."

Tails had now reached them and stood by Sonics side listening intently as Vanilla filled them in. She explained about the grotto and how only the children had been allowed in before its doors slammed shut and the whole structure had taken off.

"Ms Rose tried to stop it but it took off with her still holding on."

"Amy?" Sonic said in shock. "She was holding on while it took off."

Vanilla nodded. "She was awfully high up but I could still see her on the side of the grotto as it disappeared over the horizon.

"Lets hope she managed to keep her grip." Tails said quietly to Sonic.

The hedgehog nodded grimly. Even if Amy had managed to stay on board she and the children would be in real danger. Sonic needed to find them all quickly .

"Don't worry Vanilla." He said reassuringly. "We'll get them all back."

"Why would someone take the kids in the first place?" One of the other parents chimed in.

Sonic wasn't entirely sure of that either but he was certain that if Eggman was responsible for making this grotto it wasn't so that he could sit the little darlings on his knee and give them a present.

"Don't worry." Sonic repeated, a little louder this time so that the other parents could hear him. "We will find the children before anything bad happens. I'm sure Amy is still with them and she will protect them with her life."

He met his best friends eye. He could see on Tails face that he was as worried as Sonic was. They had no time to lose.

"Our best bet is to get airborne and start out search from the sky." The little fox suggested.

"Right." Sonic agreed.

With a reassuring salute to Vanilla and the other parents he grabbed Tails arm and sped them both home to the tornado. As Tails prepared the plane for takeoff Sonic checked in with the resistance. He reasoned that the more people out looking for Amy and the kids the better. When Jewel answered she seemed stressed.

"Sonic!" The little beetle exclaimed. "How did you know I wanted to speak to you."

"I didn't" Sonic replied flatly. "I'm guessing you've not got good news for me?"

"I've just had a call from Tangle and Whisper." Jewel explained. Their town was attacked."

"Let me guess, someone's kidnapped the towns kids?" Sonic interrupted.

"How did you know that?!"

"It's happened here." The hedgehog replied.

"It's happening everywhere!" Jewel said desperately. "We're getting calls from all over that children have been lured into containers which have flown off into the sky. I'm trying to pinpoint a central location that they might all be headed to but so far it seems random."

"Unless the smaller carriers are heading to larger transporters." Tails chipped in. "It's unlikely the containers would be able to travel for long distances. I bet there are transport ships nearby waiting to take them to the egg carrier."

"So there must be one in this area." Sonic reasoned. "We need to catch up with it before it leave for the carrier."

Tails nodded. "The grotto that took Cream and Amy was heading north." He supplied.

"Oh my!" Jewel squeaked. "They took Miss Rose?"

"You could say she hitched a ride." Sonic said vaguely. "Either way we need to catch up with her quickly. Jewel, can you get the others to head to towns that haven't been hit yet? Hopefully they can head off the bad guys."

"Of course!" The beetle replied. "Stay in touch. Oh and good luck."

Sonic hung up and turned to Tails.

"North it is!"

The hedgehog leapt onto the wing of the plane and crouched down as Tails executed a smooth takeoff. Sonic doubted Amys ride would be as comfortable as his. He hoped she was ok.

"Don't worry." He said aloud. "We're coming for you."

The room was cold,dark and metal. About as un Christmas like as anyone could imagine but that didn't bother Starline. He had long abandoned any good will to all men and was certainly on the naughty list. None of that festive nonsense had mattered to him in a long, long time. In any case, he was already living all of his Christmas's at once. The chance to watch his idol at work was a reward far beyond that which could be found in a stocking or under a tree.

The platypus smiled to himself as Dr Eggman scrolled through the data on his screen. The doctors latest plan was coming together nicely. Starline had been concerned after their latest defeat at the hands of the cursed hedgehog and his friends. Even more concerning had been how the doctor would receive him when Starline came crawling back.

Starline had gone against Eggmans wishes towards the end of that whole horrible metal virus business. When Starline eventually made his way back to Eggmans camp he had been concerned that the doctor would not have been overly pleased to see him. Fortunately for the platypus the great dr Robotnik was a merciful leader. He saw that Starlines actions were out of loyalty and devotion towards the Eggman empire.

Even so, the doctor still seemed somewhat reluctant to share his full plans with Starline again. The platypus had some rough idea of what his evil master had been planning these last few months. He had seen the new prototype robots around the ship and had watched the Dr craft the grotto's. In theory this particular plan of Dr Eggmans seemed to be one of his most dastardly plans yet. It seemed pretty infallible as well. Starline could see no reason that anyone in their right mind would oppose them now? Even Sonic would have to think twice.

However, there was something nagging at the back of Starlines mind. Yet again he found himself wondering about the long term effectiveness of doctors plans. But Starline didn't dare voice these concerns aloud. Not yet anyway. Not until he was more certain of his position with the doctor. Instead he found himself staring at the doctor. His leader seemed delighted with himself. Eggman was chuckling away to himself as tiny flashing dots on the screen sped towards slightly larger ones. In the middle of the map a large smiling cartoon of Eggmans face gave away their location.

"Things seem to be going well doctor." Starline said tentatively.

The doctor stopped laughing and suddenly became very stoic. He gave no trace of his true feelings away to Starline. The platypus suddenly felt quite nervous.

"That accursed hedgehog doesn't seem to have interfered with our plans. For once he was too late."

"Hmm." Eggman said in a non committal tone. "It would appear so. My plans are already in motion. He will have no way of stopping things now. Even if by some miracle he found the egg carrier our first guests should be arriving imminently. They will act as both our hostages and his ultimate demise."

The doctor began to laugh his most maniacal cackle. He was completely cock-a- hoop at the idea of his rivals impending death. Starline hated to bring the doctor down but he did have one pertinent question. The doctor had not quite explained how he intended to fuel his new army. Starline had seen the technology the doctor had set aside for his new captures to harness but for the life of him he could not work out how the great man intended to power it. He voiced his concerns as delicately as he could with the doctor. His comments did not land well.

"You doubt me Starline." The doctor growled. It was not a question. It was a statement, a declaration of the doctors disappointment.

Starline hesitated. "I simply wish to understand." He said. "My only aim is to learn from you doctor. Whatever you have planned is clearly far beyond my comprehension."

"Indeed." Eggman responded sourly. "You will understand soon my friend. We are nearly at our destination and all will become abundantly clear."

The doctor reached a white gloved hand over the console in front of him and pressed a button. Behind Starline a metal door stood open and a familiar figure strode into the room. It's feet clanged on the metal floor. Starline let out an involuntary shiver. The wretched creature gave him the willies at the best of times but now as it stood before him, incomplete and not fully recovered from its last encounter with Sonic and its friends the robot seemed even more creepy than usual.

The platypus turned to his illustrious leader.

"Sir," he gasped. "Are you sure about this? Surely he can't be ready."

"He has strength enough for this." The doctor said firmly. That was his final word on the matter.

x

On the wing of Tails plane Sonic shivered with the cold and readjusted his grip. Even through his gloves the bitter chill was making his joints stiff and hard to hold on. He thought about climbing down into the passenger seat but with the low winters sun quickly disappearing over the horizon he knew that they were fast running out of time and each second he stayed put on his vantage point increased his chances of spotting some clue as to where Amy and the kids might be.

He and Tails had been flying north as fast as the plane could take them for nearly half of the day now. They had covered a huge distance but so far they had not seen even a small dot in the distance which might be the grotto. With the darkness creeping in and the bitter cold catching in his lungs Sonic knew deep down that they would not be able to keep up their search much longer. Soon they were going to have to land. Fortunately Sonic knew somewhere they could stop which might also prove useful in their mission.

"We're near Angel Island." He called down to Tails. "If the grotto did come this way then Knuckles may have seen it. The Islands high up enough that he can see for miles around."

"Good idea." Tails called back.

The fox urged the plane on wards and soon a large shape appeared in the distance. A huge gem shaped island floated in mid air before them. Water cascaded over the edge of the island and dissipated long before it hit the ocean below. As the plane drew closer Sonic could see lush green hills and ancient structures standing as proud monuments to the lost civilization which had previously occupied the island. Now only one inhabitant remained.

Beneath him Sonic felt a slight tilt in the planes wings as Tails guided the plane smoothly down on the grass in front of a very large, green emerald. Sonic leapt quickly off of the wing and glanced up at the precious stone. A face peered over the edge of the emerald. It's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"No." A red echidna barked down at Sonic and Tails. "Whatever it is, no"

"Hey knux." Sonic called back. "Long time no see."

Knuckles remained unimpressed by Sonic and Tails sudden arrival on his island.

"Whatever you two have gotten yourselves into I want no part of it. He said wearily and disappeared over the top of the master emerald where he reclined back with his arms behind his head. "I'm assuming that transporter was something to do with you?"

Tails looked quickly at Sonic. The hedgehog could see a glimmer of hope in his friends eyes and felt his own heart leap.

"Transporter?" Tails said excitedly. "Knuckles, which way did it go?"

Knuckles remained in his relaxed position and waved a white gloved hand vaguely towards the east. Sonic and tails turned to eachother.

"Hopefully it's collected the grotto." Tails said.

Sonic nodded. "And hopefully Amy managed to hang on long enough."

The mention of their pink friend piqued the red echidnas interest. Once again his face appeared from the top of the emerald and glared down at Sonic and Tails.

"Hold on to what?" He demanded.

Tails quickly explained about the grotto and their quest to find Amy and the children. Sonic watched Knuckles face fall. He had known Knuckles for quite some time now and although his friend liked to give the impression of being an aloof loner Sonic knew that Knuckles cared very deeply for those who he counted as friends. He could be very protective at times. As Tails talked Sonic watched as Knuckles eyes narrowed and strayed towards him.

"Climbing onto a flying metal box sounds like the kind of stupid stunt you'd pull!" Knuckles barked at him.

"I didn't ask her to!" Sonic protested. "I wasn't even there!"

Knuckles was still unhappy. "You've been a bad influence on her." He snapped. "The old Amy would have done the sensible thing and ran for help. Not rushed in and risked her life."

"My influence?" Sonic demanded angrily. "She's been desperate to get out there and do some good since the war. If you hadn't abandoned the resistance after the war COMMANDER maybe she might not have gotten so bored and exhausted herself keeping things together for everyone else."

"Guys?" Tails tried to interject. Sonic and Knuckles ignored him.

"She's trying to be more like you and you know it." Knuckles shot back. "Chaos knows why."

"She's not a little kid anymore Knucks. Amy is far more capable than you give her credit."

"Guys?" Tails tried again.

"Oh trust me Sonic we've all seen how much she's grown." Knuckles spat. "Even if you've chosen to ignore it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"GUYS!" Tails yelled loudly. Sonic and Knuckles stopped bickering and turned to him.

Tails was red in the face with frustration and his clenched fists were raised in front of him.

"We don't have time for this." He said seriously. "Amy, Cream and the kids are in danger. We don't have time to waste arguing about why she jumped aboard. The fact is she did and I for one am proud of her for doing it. Let's face it, any of us would have done the same."

Sonic and Knuckles looked embarrassed. Even so, neither of them seemed particularly willing to apologies for their behavior. Sonic simply brushed the whole thing off and stared off towards the east where Knuckles had seen the transporter.

"How long ago did you see the ship?" Sonic asked, trying to keep his tone civil.

"About an hour ago, maybe two." Knuckles responded.

Sonic felt the glimmer of hope return. They weren't that far behind. Tails plane was smaller and lighter than the big cumbersome ships eggman usually deployed. If they left now they would catch Amy, Cream and the kids up in no time.

"What are we waiting for?" He said brightly. "Come on Knux. Let's get moving."

The Echidna stayed put looking thoughtful.

"Knuckles?" Tails said tentatively.

Knuckles sighed. "I'm sorry," He said eventually. "I've spent too long away from the island recently. my job is to guard the emerald. My place is here."

Sonic glared at him. The red echidna clearly felt guilty about his decision.

"You guys will sort this out. I'm Sure of it." Knuckles said confidently. "It wont take you long to catch the ship and it was only a transporter. It won't be as heavily guarded as the egg carrier. You'll have them home in no time."

Sonic nodded gruffly. He was disappointed in Knuckles response, things would certainly go smoother with him there to help but Sonic could see that the echidna was not to be swayed. Now that it was darker the hedgehog opted to sit in the back of the plane rather than on the wings. The transporter would be much easier to spot than the grotto.

Tails whirred the propellers into action and headed off into the sky. The dying suns light fading behind them in the west.


	3. Chapter 3

With the children's help Amy had managed to maintain her grip on the grotto as it met the large transport vessel and docked in one of the echoing hangars.

When it was safe to do so she let go and finally felt solid ground beneath her feet. It was only a small, temporary relief though. Although the ground might be solid but it certainly wasn't safe. Amy was now alone on an enemy ship, hundreds of feet up in the air.

She was sure that Vanilla would have raised the alarm by now but even Sonic, fast though he was would have struggled to catch up to the grotto. That was assuming he had worked out what direction they had gone in. Amy had no doubt that her friend would be doing all he could to find her and the children but for now she would have to take care of herself. And the children of course.

Inside the grotto she could still hear their frightened cries. Amy bent down low to the gap in the door.

"Cream?" She whispered.

"Miss Rose?!" The little rabbit answered. Amy could tell she was frightened but Cream tried to keep her voice calm. "Where are we?"

That was a good question. 'Very high in the air' was probably not the answer Cream and the other children needed to hear right now. Amy took a good look around.

"We're in a hangar on a ship." She whispered back. "Looks like there's space for other smaller ships but ours is the only one here."

"I want to get out!" A little girls voice screamed shrilly making Amy jump.

"Be quiet." Amy said quickly. "Please don't worry little girl I'll get you all out. But you have to be quiet, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves."

"Is Sonic coming?" The little girl continued to cry. "He'll save us. He's the bravest person there is."

"Amy is just as brave." Cream said loyally. "If she says she'll get us out she will."

"She's not as good as Sonic though." The girl argued back.

Amy briefly wondered how much that particular child's parents would mind if Amy 'forgot' to rescue her but was suddenly distracted by the sound of something large and metal stomping its way towards the hangar.

"Please listen." She said urgently. "I promise it will be ok. Do as they say when they get here and don't fight them or they will hurt you."

"Mommy!" A little boy sobbed. He sounded very young.

Amy tried to sound reassuring. "I'll have you back with your parents before you know if. Cream, look after everyone."

"I will." cream replied. She sounded very grown up all of a sudden.

Amy broke away from the gap and dived into the shadows as the door at the other end of the hangar slip open. Over the 'THUNK... THUNK... THUNK' of their captors striding across the metal floor Amy could still hear the boys sobs.

Keeping close to the wall and ducking in between large metal crates Amy moved to get a better look of whoever was coming. As she passed the crates she saw they all had the logo of the Eggman empires on them. What was he planning?

Amy peeked around the side of one of the crates and stifled a gasp with her hand. The robot who has come to collect the children was enormous. At least a foot taller and wider than Omega. The metal creature was spray painted red with a white trimming around the edges to mimic Santa's famous red coat. On his head a red metal hat was perched at a jaunty angle. On the bottom half of its face was an exaggerated white beard. Unlike St Nick though, the robot did not have a friendly twinkle in his eyes. It's eyes were cold red orbs. Amy shivered and was unsurprised to see the little boy had become hysterical now.

Amy looked around desperately. She wished she could get a message to the others. Her eyes fell on a computer terminal. With half an eye on the kids Amy crept over to it. By now a Eggman has learned his lesson about changing his passwords more often. Earlier that year Amy and Sonic had managed to swipe some pretty valuable data from one of the doctors abandoned bases. The not so clever evil genius had used an easily guessable hedgehog themed insult as his password. Since then the Eggman was more cautious. Thankfully for the resistance they had Tails in their corner. The genius fox had created a small device for resistance members to keep on their person. The device was small and undetectable to the enemy should they be captured. Most importantly it could hack into Eggmans files when placed near a computer. Tails had fashioned Amy's personal device into a red baretta, shaped like a rose which she placed in her quills.

Amy quickly unclipped the baretta and pressed the center of the bud. It a tiny light flashed green which showed it was working. She placed it on the computer and turned her full attention back to the children.

The Santa robot, or santabot as Amy mentally dubbed it had forced the children out of the container and had lined them up in height order. Sonics little fan was the tallest. Amy could see her clearly now, she was a small orange lioness in blue dungarees. She was twisting her tail nervously in her hands. Next stood Cream who held her head high. In her arms cheese glares defiantly at the robot. Next was a girl only a hair shorter than Cream. She was also a rabbit but a black one with ears that stood tall and upright. The black rabbit had remained silent in the grotto and now stood quietly trembling and looking at the floor as the robot paced in front of the kids. Finally the little boy stood clutching his fluffy blue teddy. He was a yellow puppy dog. A Labrador Amy guessed. His tail was tucked between his legs as he sobbed. Amy didn't really consider herself as maternal. She liked children but it wasn't that long since she was one herself. Even so, as the little lad wept she had to fight the urge to scoop him up into a comforting hug.

But Amy wasn't a mother. She was a fighter and her way to deal with this was to hit things.

The baretta has stopped flashing which meant that it was done. Amy scooped it up and clipped it back into her hair. She then made her way towards the robot, summoning her hammer as she walked. Santabot was big but he was also on his own. Amy could not see any obvious weapons. She fancied her chances. If she could knock him out quickly she could try and get the grotto flying and get the kids out of here.

The robot was scanning the children as Amy moved closer.

"Confirmed. Subject age correct. Cleared. Advance to next stage." It said as a green laser passed over Cream.

"She's not advancing anywhere." Amy snapped.

The children gasped as the robot span to face Amy. It's green scanning light focused in on her.

"Denied. Subjects age exceeds limit." It beeped.

"Hey!" Amy yelled angrily. "Are you calling me old?"

"Affirmative. Subject too old"

Amys eyes narrowed.

"Terminate." The robot said menacingly.

"Bring it!" The pink hedgehog growled. "Kids! Back in the grotto."

The lion ran backwards quicker than Sonic. The others followed suit. Cream snatched up the little boy as she ran.

Santabot and Amy ran forwards simultaneously. It's giant hand slammed down just as Amy swung her hammer upwards. The sound of the two objects colliding echoed around the hangar. Amy flipped backwards and landed on her feet a small distance away. She had barely recovered herself when the robot bore down on her again.

"What do you want with the kids." Amy demanded. She swung her hammer at one of the large metal crates lining the room. The crate slammed like a cannonball into the robot. It hit the misshapen Santa hard in its chest leaving a sizable dent and exposed wires. The electricity crackled and fizzed from the wires as Santabot lurched forwards unsteadily. It was hurt but still capable of doing some damage.

The robot lowered its head and charged like a rhino at Amy. She dodged just in time and Robosanta careered past her into the wall of the hangar. It was heavy and hit the wall with so much force that it continued through. Amy watched in horror as it smacked into a large piston.

"I hope that's not the engine!" Amy said to herself.

Confirming her worst fears a red flashing light flooded the room.

"Warning!" A pre recoded voice echoed throughout the carrier. "Engine failure. Losing altitude. Warning"

The voice continued to repeat its warning on a loop. Amy felt a judder under her feet. They were going down. Fast.

"Miss Rose?!" Cream called urgently from inside the grotto.

Amy ran over and joined the kids. Inside the grotto was decorated with tinsel and a mock fireplace.

"There must be a control panel somewhere!" Amy said desperately and began clawing at panels in the fake log cabin walls. The children copied her and began poking everything they could. The black bunny pulled at a candle on the fires mantle and the whole fireplace flipped forwards.

"Yes!" Amy breathed. "Well done kid."

The little rabbit smiled shyly. Amy poked at the buttons on the control panel. The good thing about Eggmans robot empire was that he kept things pretty basic. His ships were usually piloted by robots who only followed basic instructions. Usually kill. This meant that actually flying the ships was pretty basic and after a short lesson from Tails most of the resistance were now able to pilot Eggmans ships. Well, land them anyway.

There was a satisfying roar as the grottos engines fired up.

"Um... Ms Rose?" Cream called.

Amy turned to see that the little rabbit was pointing out of the grotto doors. Santabot had untangled himself from the engines pistons and was heading towards them.

"Close the doors!" The lion squealed. "Quickly. QUICKLY."

Amy hammered at the buttons on the panel. The robot was closing in as the doors began to pull together.

The doors were almost closed when a metal hand shot through the gap. Amy said a word Cream was certain her mother would disapprove of.

Xxxxx

Even if they couldn't see the dark plumes of smoke rising through the nights sky Sonic and Tails could certainly smell them. Sonic had initially worried that the plane had caught fire but as he leaned out of his seat for a better view something even more distressing met his eyes

Far below in the depths of an old and expansive forest he could see flames inside a clearing.

"Do you think you can land in there?" He called to his pilot.

"I can try." Tails responded.

The fox tilted the nose of the plane down wards and headed towards the flames which were guiding them through the dark like beacons. As the plane flew lower Sonic could see that the clearing that they were headed for was not a natural one. something large had crashed into the Forest, taking out the trees as it came to a halt.

He held his breath for a moment as the planes wheels bounced off of the ground and struggled for purchases as Tails hit the breaks. The plane took far too long to stop for Sonics liking. He closed his eyes and braced for impact as they skidded towards a tree.

Thankfully he felt the plane come to a complete stop and when he opened his eyes the propeller had stopped millimeters away from the trunk. Tails had already released himself from his seatbelt and jumped down from the cockpit. Sonic joined him and tried to make sense of what he saw before him.

It was not a happy sight. Sonic felt his knees give way beneath him as he surveyed the carnage of the crash site. It looked as though the large transporter Knuckles had described had come down. Twisted metal and flaming debris was strewn in front of him. With a heavy heart Sonic finally realized, no one could have survived this crash.

"I was too late." He breathed quietly. "No! Amy!"

In his minds eye he saw Amy and the children, terrified as the transporter careened towards the earth.

"We don't know for sure they were on board." Tails supplied. His voice was cracking as he spoke.

Sonic watched as his Fox friend ran closer to the main body of the wreckage. The flaming carcass of the ship remained somewhat in tact. Sonic could see what was left of the ships hangar.

"It's empty." He said hopefully.

Tails rose up into the cold night air for a better view of the clearing.

"There!" He shouted excitedly. "In the trees."

Sonic ran to where the boy was pointing. Wedged in amongst some fallen trees on the other side of the clearing was a large metal container. The doors were damaged and open. Sonic could see round dents. He ran his fingers over them.

"Amy's hammer!" The hedgehog exclaimed as Tails caught up. "They MUST have survived the landing."

He could feel his heart swell as it once again filled with hope. Tails next words burst his bubbles somewhat.

"Not just them." The fox pointed out.

There were large tracks headed into the forest. At a guess Sonic would say there was a robot on Amy's tail.

"Great." Said Sonic. "Now we need to track her down again! It didn't use to be this hard to find Amy. I was harder to get rid of her."

"Theres no snow in the forest. It will be hard to track their footprints." Tails mused.

A sudden thought occurred to Sonic. "Didn't you put a tracker in that device thing you gave everyone? Amy got a baretta."

Tails sighed. "Knuckles wouldn't let me." The fox grumbled. "He said it was an invasion of everyone privacy"

"Fine." Sonic muttered, staring into the dark woods. "Looks like we're doing this the old fashioned way." With his best foot forward he and Tails headed off in search of their friend.


	4. Chapter four

If Amy heard 'I'm cold' one more time today she was going to scream. She appreciated that the children were only little but there was literally nothing she could do to stop the fact that it was winter. She was keeping the kids moving as she suspected Santabot may have survived the landing. If you could call it a landing. With the robots claws digging into the grotto Amy had not been able to fly away as she had intended. Instead what had happened was a last minuet scramble before they hit the ground to at least leave the carrier before it exploded. Amy had achieved this by firing everything she had into the rear thrusters and smacking the front wall of the grotto as hard as she could with her hammer to give her the extra oompf needed to shift the ship from the monsters grip. As The grotto had rocketed forward Amy had seen a fleeting glimpse of Santa bot getting roasted by the thrusters.

She had not been able to find the creature at the crash site but knew that it would not be far away. The children had wanted to stay put there. It was certainly warmer at the crash site, most of the clearing was on fire making it rather toasty. It also made a certain kind of sense to remain next to the smoldering wreck if people were going to be out looking for them. But could they grantee the people looking would be friendly? Eggman was certain to send someone to investigate why one of his ships had crashed. Amy made the decision not to wait and find out. Instead she decided to head to south. The carrier had been heading north so it was probably best to get as far away from the north as she could.

It had already been nightime when she and the kids had crashed. Amy quickly worked out that the smallest boy, Joshua, was frightened of the dark. He had taken her hand the moment they had left the grotto. The other children were at least pretending to be brave although they didn't fool Amy. She could see Matilda the lion clutching her tail and Violet the black rabbits pointy ears were distinctly floppy at the moment. Even Cream, who had been on so many adventures with Amy seemed a little nervous.

"Do you think that Robot is still out there Amy?" The little bunny asked her. Cream had taken off her own earmuffs and passed them to Cheese who was shivering in her arms.

Amy tried to remain upbeat. "He might be. But that's why it's important for us to put as much distance between us and the crash site as possible."

"Ok." Cream said quietly.

Amy looked down at her little friend and then back at the other children. Their pace had slowed significantly the last mile or so. Still holding her hand, Joseph was a few paces behind Amy now. She was practically dragging the poor kid along now. With a heavy sigh she scooped the little boy up into her arms. There was no way the kids were going to make it through the night without stopping. She looked around the path and peered through the trees. She couldn't see too far through the gloom but there appeared to be a small hollow a few feet off of the path. Amy made her way over, the little girls trailing behind. It was going to have to do for the night.

"Why have we stopped?" Matilda demanded. "You said we had to keep moving or that thing will find us."

Amy settled Joshua down on a rock. The little boy had almost fallen asleep in her arms.

"You guys need rest and I'm not going to be able to carry all of you." Amy answered. "I'm going to need you all to collect as much dry wood as you can for me. Pair up and don't stray too far from here."

While the children were off gathering sticks Amy managed to find them all some berries to eat and start a fire with the dry twigs she could see in the hollow. It didn't take the children long to come back. When they did Matilda stared at the fire in horror.

"The robot will see us!" She squeaked.

"Assuming he survived and assuming he came in this direction to." Amy reasoned.

The other children had all gathered appreciatively around the fire. Violets ears were once again stood to attention. Matilda remained rooted to the spot.

"Don't worry." Amy reassured her. "I'll keep look out while you guys rest. IF the robot finds us he wont be in a good way. I can take him."

Amy was trying to convince herself as much as she was Matilda. In truth she was nervous of engaging Robosanta in battle again but the kids needed to stay warm so she had no choice but to light a fire, even if it drew unwanted attention. If it came down to it Amy was just going to have to fight though the pain. Although she was trying her best to hide it from the children Amy was hurt. When the grotto had crashed she had been thrown back into the metal door. The metal had been twisted and jagged where the robot had tried to get through the gap. It had pierced Amys side as left a deep gash. She had used her scarf to bandage the wound as best as she could when the children weren't looking but now she could feel the scarf was becoming heavy and wet under her jacket.

With Matilda finally placated the children settled by the fire and ate their berries while Amy used the wood they had gathered to make a shelter.

"Where did you learn to make fires and shelters and do all this outdoorsy stuff?" Violet asked shyly as Amy fastened the last few branches together.

Amy smiled and settled down with the children by the fire.

"I've spent the last few years adventuring and traveling around with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles." She explained

"And me." Cream chipped in.

"And Cream." Amy laughed. "We've had to camp out in some pretty tough places before so I learned a few tricks to make things more comfortable."

Amy noticed that Matildas little round ears had perked up at the mention of the blue hedgehog.

"Tell us about your adventures Amy." Violet asked. "Please?"

Little Joshua, who had nearly been out for the count sat up straight. "Yeah, tell us a story." He begged.

"One about Sonic!" Matilda said loudly.

Amy relented and told the children the story of how she and Sonic had first met. The children listened closely, rapt with attention and gasped when Metal Sonic entered the story. By the time Amy was finished the kids eyes were droopy and little Joshua was resting his head on Violets shoulder.

"I think it's time for bed." Amy said, picking Joshua up and carrying him into the shelter. The girls followed.

"You'll stay awake and keep look out wont you Amy?" Violet checked.

Amy nodded. "All night." She promised.

The children all huddled up and lay down on the ground.

"Thank you for the story." Cream said politely. "It was really good."

The others agreed sleepily.

"I hope Sonic comes to save us." Matilda yawned.

"Me to." Amy said quietly to herself as the children drifted off to sleep.

X x x x

The small ship touched down on the inky black glass unseen by anyone but the two crew members on board. It's shiny black doors slid open and a ramp appeared. The sound of high heels on metal echoed around angel island. Rouge shivered against the cold and scanned the sight in font of her then sighed and called back into the vessel.

"We're too late."

A black hedgehog appeared in the doorway and glared down at her. Rouge wasn't even sure she could refer to it as a glare anymore. It was just Shadows default look. She was probably the person he got on most with in the world and even then she had rarely seen him smile. He certainly wasn't smiling now. He stamped down the gangway and joined her on the lawn in front of where, until recently, the master emerald had stood.

"Where's your red friend gone?" Shadow growled. "Caught up on some silly quest with Sonic no doubt."

"Let's see shall we." Rouge said sourly.

She beat her leathery wings and shot up high into the sky. Being a bat, the darkness was not an issue for her and she was easily able to survey the damage done to Angel island. There were deep grooves in the turf beneath her and smashed rocks. Knuckles had clearly put up some fight. He could be VERY stubborn.

It didn't take Rouge long to spot the echidna. He had fallen by the emeralds plinth, clearly having used the last of his strength to try and get to the big Green gem. Rouge shot down and landed next to him. Knuckles was still unconscious and lay on his back with his arms by his side. Shadow joined her instantly and nudged Knuckles with his foot, a little harder than Rouge thought was necessary. The red creature grunted but remained on the ground.

"Wake up." Shadow snapped loudly. He went to kick the echidna again but Rouge put her arm across him.

"Perhaps we should try a gentler approach?" She said flatly.

Shadow shrugged and turned his back as Rouge knelt down and whispered in Knuckles ear.

"Time to get up sleepy head." She said in a sultry voice.

A smile formed on knuckles lips but then quickly faded as he suddenly sat bolt upright, eyes wide open.

"The master emerald." He yelled.

"It's gone." Shadow answered cooly. "Again."

The echidna leapt to his feet and stared wildly around the island. Rouge put a hand on his shoulder which he instantly shrugged off.

"Such a shame," She sighed. "I do love that emerald."

"You might do a better job of keeping it safe then." Shadow said with a sneer and turned his attention to Knuckles. "What happened here?"

Knuckles eyed the hedgehog suspiciously. "You tell me." He demanded. "It can't be coincidence that you two are here. Did you know he was coming for the emerald?"

Shadow and Rouge exchanged a meaningful look.

"He was coming?" Rouge repeated. "You were right then Shadow. Eggman is up to something."

"He sent metal." Knuckled growled.

"Metal." Shadow said with a hollow laugh. "That things in bits. How did you loose to that bag of bolts?"

The echidna bristled. "He was very much whole when I last saw him." He snapped. "Although not so much when he left."

"Left with your emerald." Rouge pointed out, bursting Knuckles bubble.

Knuckles clenched his fists. "Well now I'm going to get it back." He growled. "Tell me what you know."

Rouge shrugged and Shadow shot him a contemptuous look.

"Sorry handsome." She smiled. "It's classified."

Knuckles tanned muzzle was as red as his fur. "Without that emerald this island is going to crash down into the ocean. And who knows what Eggmans going to use it for."

"We have a pretty good idea." Shadow said smugly. "Don't worry. We'll get your gem back for you."

"Tell me." Knuckles insisted. "I know that he's taking kids. Sonics on his tail, and Amy's already aboard one of the ships heading east."

Rouge and Shadow looked at eachother but were giving nothing away.

"Thanks for the tip." The bat smiled.

"It works both ways!" Knuckles shot back.

"Not today." Rouge said, blowing him a kiss as she and Shadow sauntered away. "If I were you I'd try and catch up with blue boy. We don't take tag alongs."

She and Shadow kept walking without a backwards glance. Kids eh? Given what she and Shadow already knew about Eggmans new army this was not the news they were hoping for.


	5. Chapter 5

A loud booming voice echoed along the corridor as Knuckles made his way towards the control room.

"Well this was a waste of time." Snapped a large crocodile as it stamped in knuckles direction. "Looks like the restoration have no idea where the kiddos have been taken either."

"It sounds like Sonic and Tails are on the trail though Vector." Espio said in an attempt to calm his large green friend.

"Yeah." Charmy buzzed excitedly above their heads. "They'll have the kids back in no time."

"And there goes our commission!" Vector continued to grumble loudly.

"I thought you said you were doing it as a favor for Vanilla." Charmy said innocently.

"Sometimes a good deed is it's own reward." Espio added wisely.

Vector didn't seem to prescribe to that particular philosophy.

"Well we cant have those two taking full credit. We need to get on the trail as soon as possible. We gotta head north after them."

"North east." Knuckles corrected him, making the chaotix jump.

Vector folded his arms and sized the red echidna up. "It's not polite to eavesdrop you know?"

"You're a detective." Knuckles pointed out. "Isn't it part of your job to listen in to other peoples conversations? Besides, I could hear you from a mile off Vector."

Knuckles continued down the corridor, causing the others to turn on their heels and follow.

"How can you be sure they went north-east? Espio inquired catching up to Knuckles.

"Because that's where I told him to go." The echidna replied simply.

They had reached the control room. It large room with no natural lighting. The florescent lights of the multiple computer screens cast an eerie glow over the bare, clinical room. A large metal conference table stood in the middle of the room taking up most of the space. Out of habit Knuckles made his way to the head of the table where he has sat as commander. Jewel the beetle met his eye and looked as though she wanted to say something but chickened out.

"Knuckles," She smiled. "To what do we owe this pleasure."

"He knows where Sonic went." Charmy filled her in.

"Yeah and he's being cagey with the details." Vector flexed his knuckles in frustration. At the head of the table the red echidna smiled and waved his hands in a calming gesture.

"Not cagey." He assured them all. "I just didn't want to have to repeat myself so I thought we should all chat together."

Knuckles explained all he knew to the others, about the carrier that he had seen, Sonic and Tails arriving, Metal arriving not long after and finally the cryptic visit from Shadow and Rouge. The others listened thoughtfully. The chaotix seemed intrigued by his account but Jewel was alarmed.

"What would Eggman use the master emerald for?" She asked.

"I imagine to power whatever new weapon he's created." Knuckles supplied. "It's not the first time he's pulled this stunt."

"But why does he want kids?" Charmy questioned.

"I was hoping you all might have some information on that." Knuckles sighed. "I was expecting Sonic and Tails to be back by now. It's nearly dawn."

Jewel shook her head. "No, no word." She said sadly. "And we've had more children taken overnight. After everyone got wise to the grotto thing Eggman started sending badniks into the towns searching for kids. He's taken children from all over mobius. We have no idea where he's going to strike next. I've sent operatives to towns that haven't been hit yet theres not enough of us to cover everywhere."

Knuckles pounded his fists on the desk in frustration. "We cant just sit here and wait for him to make a move."

"Hopefully Sonic and Tails will be back soon with Amy and the children." Jewel supplied. "They might have a lead."

Knuckles shook his head. "Somethings wrong." He said firmly. "If Sonic had caught up with them you can guarantee he'd be straight back here to gloat that he'd saved the day. We can't wait for Sonic. We have to go on the offensive."

The words were barely out of his mouth when one of the screens behind Jewel began flashing. As Knuckles was the one sat in the commanders chair he pressed the a large black button on the desk. A young lemur flashed up on the screen. Behind her was the sound of gunfire. Knuckles could make out a shadowy shape on the rooftop behind Tangle firing an automatic weapon down towards the ground beneath her.

"We've got a problem!" Tangle said urgently, her voice raised over the gunfire. "Sunset heights is under attack. Badniks have us surrounded."

"Where are they coming from?" Espio demanded.

"There are two enemy drop ships." Tangle explained. "On either side of the town. They dropped simultaneously so we couldn't get people out of here before they reached the town."

"Are they taking the children?" Charmy squeaked.

On the screen Tangle shook her head. "No, this is different. They're occupying the city."

Jewel tapped away at the control panel under the screens. "I'm sending you in some reinforcements." She said quickly. "Just hang tight girls."

"There's something else." Tangle said quickly. Behind her Whisper threw a grenade over the side of the building. Tangle paused a moment so that her voice wouldn't be drowned out by the subsequent explosion.

"There are new robots here." She continued when it was safe to do so. "I've not seen anything like them before. They're still outside the city so we cant see them properly yet."

"A new robot?" Knuckles demanded.

"Yeah," Tangle confirmed. "This is going to sound weird but they look like elves?"

Knuckles shrugged. Over the years he had learned that Eggman and weird often went hand in hand. "We're making our way." He said to Tangle. The lemur nodded and turned back to Whisper as the screen went blank.

Knuckles turned to the Chotix. "You guys coming?" They nodded.

Espio turned to Charmy. "Perhaps you should sit this one out." The Chameleon said. "If they're taking children you might be in more danger than the rest of us."

Charmys cheeks went red. The little bee shook his head. "No way!" he cried. "I'm coming to."

"Fine." Vector said heading quickly out the door. "Let's get moving. We need to find Cream."

"And the other kids." Espio pointed out.

Vector shrugged. "Yeah, them to."

Amy had managed to keep the fire going all night but as the hours ticked past and the light through the treetops grew lighter she began to feel herself growing cold. She reached down and gingerly touched her side. It stung like nothing she had felt before. As she pulled her hand away Amy could see that the blood was finally reaching her outer layer of clothing. She was weak, exhausted from staying up all night in the cold night air and drained of a large amount of blood. This was bad.

"I'm not going to make it." She whispered to herself as the sad realization that she would never see her friends again dawned on her. She would never see him again. But it wasn't over for the children.

"Cream." She called. Her voice was no more than a croak. Amy took a deep breath and tried again. "Cream, can you come here a minuet." She called.

The little rabbit appeared at the opening of the shelter rubbing her eyes. "Good morning." She Yawned. Cheese floated sleepily behind her.

Amy watched the look of horror pass over the childs face as Cream got a good look at Amy. She must look worse than she thought.

"AMY!" Cream squeaked rushing forwards. The other children appeared at the mouth of the shelter and gasped in shock.

"Listen to me Cream." Amy said urgently. "I need you to lead the others through the woods. I'm sorry to have to ask you but I don't think I can go any further."

Creams eyes were filled with tears. Cheese was openly sobbing and pressed his little blue face into Cheeses jacket. "I can't do it." The rabbit sniffed. "And I don't want to leave you."

Amy took the girls hand. "You can absolutely do it." She said confidently. Amy reached up to her hair and unclipped the baretta. She placed it carefully into Creams palm. "Take this to Tails. I managed to download some data from the transporter. Hopefully it will have something they can use to put a stop to this."

Cream shook her head. "What about you?" She demanded.

Amy smiled. "If you hurry you might be able to get a message to Sonic in time."

Amy knew that there was little chance of help coming in time for her but she had to give Cream some hope. Otherwise the little rabbit would never leave. On Amys instruction she turned to the other children.

"You heard Amy!" Cream said urgently. "We have to get to Sonic quickly."

The other children nodded and without any protest from Matilda they headed back towards the path. Something stood in their path. Something large and metallic. Amys heart sank.

Robosanta was a mess. The flames of the grottos thrusters had burned the red paintwork away from his torso and left only twisted metal. He was missing an eye and his left leg dragged limply behind him as he stumbled towards the children.

"Get back into the shelter." Amy instructed.

The children hesitated. "But you're hurt!" Joseph squeaked.

"So's he." Said Amy. "I guess we're pretty evenly matched."

The kids scrambled for the shelter as Amy summoned her hammer and rushed forwards. Every muscle ached and the pain in her side was so sharp Amy thought she might pass out but she powered through and swung with all of her might. She aimed a blow at the robots good leg causing it to stumble and fall. As it landed face first in the dirt of the hollow Robosanta stretched its arm out and punched Amy hard in her chest. She was badly winded but got up nonetheless as the monstrous Robot pulled itself up.

"Surrender the children." It demanded.

Amy shook her head. "Not going to happen."

"Then prepare to be terminated." The Robot replied.

Again it swung its arm, this time catching Amy on her injured side. She screamed in agony as she was flung to the floor.

"No!" Cream yelled. The little rabbit went to run forward but Amy held out her palm.

"Stay there." She called. "Protect the others Cream. I know you can do it."

Amy turned her attention to the robot which was slowly advancing towards her. She used the shaft of her hammer to steady herself but it was no good. She felt her legs give way beneath her. She fell to the ground with a grunt.

"Get up!" She urged herself. But she couldn't.

Robosanta lifted its fist and prepared to strike. Amy closed her eyes. She felt a rush of wind and heard the sound of screeching metal.

When she opened her eyes Sonic infront of her with his arms stretched out protectively blocking her from the monsters path.

"Normally I would make a witty quip here," the blue hedgehog said calmly. "But you've hurt my friend and don't deserve my charming repartee."

He aimed a spin dash at the robots already damaged chest. Robosanta grabbed hold of the spinning blue ball that was Sonic the hedgehog and used all of its strength to try and hold Sonic back as he ground against the creatures metalwork.

Amy felt someone grab her arm and try to help her to her feet. She was too weak to stand. She reached out for Sonic who was busy battling the robot.

"It's ok." Tails reassured her. "He's got this."

Amy looked over and saw Sonic spinning deeper into the robots chest until the light died in its one remaining eye. Sonic bounced backwards as the creature stumbled forward and finally crashed to the earth with a massive thud which shook the hollow.

Amy gave a relieved smile and sank back to the ground.

"Amy!" Sonic said urgently and he rushed to her side. Amy found herself in his arms staring into his large green eyes. They were full of concern. Behind him she could see Tails and the children. Everyone was safe.

"You came." Amy whispered.

Sonic smiled. "Did you doubt it?"

Amy returned his smile and closed her eyes. She was so tired now and the cold was creeping back in. At least she got to see him one last time.

"AMY!" Sonic called urgently and shook her. "Come on. Stay with me."

Amy felt herself being lifted up and pulled tightly to his chest. She felt the wind rushing in her quills. He was running with her in his arms. She looked up to see Sonics face set with grim determination.

"Don't worry." He said as they sped towards home. "I won't let you go."


	6. Chapter 6

When Amy woke she was in a warm comfortable bed. The pain in her side had dulled although she felt more light headed than she had before. She lifted her right hand felt a sharp pain. There was a cannula attached to it connected to a bad of clear fluid. Next to that bag was a red one pumping blood into her arm. She shifted her position slightly and was able to look around. She was in the medical bay back at HQ. The lights had been dimmed slightly, presumably while she was resting. During the war and the incident with the metal virus the beds had been full but now it was just her in here. Or was it. Amy looked over to her right and saw someone reclining peacefully on the next bed. A bandage over their arm.

"Sonic!" Amy gasped and tried to get up. She found she couldn't move well. She was too weak. The doctor noticed Amy and made her way over. Doctor Clover was a ewe, with white wooly hair tied up in a neat bun. The doctor had been near retirement before the war but fortunately for the resistance she had a strong political streak and was more than happy to fight the good fight against eggman.

"It's ok Ms Rose." The sheep said in a calming voice as she settled Amy back down. Amy fought against her and struggled to get to Sonic.

"What happened to him?" She demanded.

On the next bed the blue hedgehog rolled onto his side and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

"You're awake." He smiled, looking genuinely relieved. "How are you feeling?"

"What happened to you?" Amy breathed, pointing to his bandage. She hoped he hadn't gotten himself hurt on her account. Sonic laughed and pulled the bandage away.

"I'm fine." He assured her. "The resistance was running low on blood so I had to give you some of mine."

Confused, Amy turned to Dr Clover who nodded. "When we had to abandon the base during the virus alot of our reserves were spoiled. Lucky for you Sonic is just your type."

"Are you ok?" Amy asked Sonic, her voice full of concern.

He laughed and took her hand in his. "I'm fine Ames." He assured her. "Dr says to just take it easy for a little while. It's you I'm worried about."

"I think my exact words were REST for twenty four hours." The doctor said pointedly to Sonic. "Amy, you lost quite alot of blood and the wound was becoming infected. Ive given you some anti-biotics and a blood transfusion thanks to Sonic. The wound's stitched up and you should make a full recovery. But you need to rest up for a bit."

Amy shook her head. "The kids…"

"Are safe." Sonic interrupted. "Tails is flying them back now."

Amy rested back onto the pillow. "How long was I out?" She asked.

"Not long at all." Said doctor Clover. "Sonic brought you here quickly and you've been down here for less than an hour. Which is why it's important that you get some rest. I'm going to give you both some privacy and let Jewel know you're here. Try not to get yourselves overexcited."

The doctor said this with a pointed look down at their hands. They were still holding on to eachother. Both broke away and blushed as the doctor left the room.

"So the kids are ok?" Amy said quickly trying to distract them both from their embarrassment.

Sonic nodded. "Thanks to you. Tails got your baretta to. He's downloading it on his way back so we should have a good idea of Eggmans up to soon."

"Don't the resistance have any leads?" Amy asked, pulling herself up into a seated position. Sonic helped adjust her pillows so she could lean back comfortably.

"I haven't actually been up there yet." He explained. "I came straight here with you and wanted to stay and make sure you were ok."

"Thanks." Amy said quietly. "You don't have to stay if you need to be elsewhere."

Sonic smiled. "I'm under doctors orders to rest so I might as well stick here with you. I'm sure the others can handle anything that comes up."

Amy looked away feeling guilty. Sonic was out of action and it was all her fault. Her eyes started to tear up. She felt Sonic place a hand on her shoulder and turned to face him.

"I should have been more careful." She said quietly.

"You did the right thing."

"You wouldn't have gotten hurt like that." Amy said bitterly. "You'd have gotten everyone home safely without any mess."

Sonic laughed "Believe me I make mistakes from time to time." He said. "Anyway, things like that are easy for me because of my power. You don't have my advantages but you still saved anyone. As far as I'm concerned that makes you pretty brave. Knucks was right about how much you've grown."

Sonic perched himself on the end of the bed and took Amys hands in his again. "I'm proud of you." He said.

Amy blushed and squeezed his hand in hers. Sonic gently brushed the tears away from her cheeks with his free hand. Amy felt a rush of love and a strong desire to lean forwards and kiss him. She was just wondering if he felt the same when the door slammed open.

"Amy!" Tails said loudly, rushing to the other side of the bed. "Are you ok?"

Jewel trailed in behind him looking worried.

"I'm ok Tails. Thanks." Amy replied. "How are the kids?"

"All back with their folks." The fox beamed proudly. "Although the little lion wanted to come and see Sonic. I think she's a bit of a fan."

Amy laughed, despite the pain in her side. Behind Tails Jewel was hovering and wringing her hands.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked.

"Just before Tails got back we got a message from Tangle and Whisper in sunset heights. It's under attack. Knuckles and the chaotix left a little while ago and should be arriving there soon. The towns surrounded by badniks and some new robots. They might need some backup. Sorry, I didn't know you were down here or I'd have told you sooner."

"Sonic needs to rest for the next 24 hours." Said Dr Clover firmly, she had come back into the room after Jewel and began examining the beeping machine attached to Amy. "I'm sure they can manage without him."

The guilty feeling Amy had felt earlier was creeping back in. She glanced over to Sonic who looked frustrated. He opened his mouth to protest but the Dr cut him off.

"If you over exert yourself you will get dizzy and may pass out." She bleated.

Jewel looked crestfallen. " I have sent all of our free agents to help." She explained. "According to the towns blueprints there are some ancient tunnels leading between the mountains and the townhall. It's not been used in centuries so hopefully eggman doesn't know about it. The resistance are using it to get citizens out and sneak our fighters in."

Amy was impressed with Jewels planning. "They just need to get people out." She said firmly. "That's the main thing. I'm certain they can all handle a few badniks."

She looked over to Sonic who seemed placated and shrugged. "Our guys can handle the evacuation and when I'm up to full strength we can work out a strategy to take back the town."

Jewel still looked uncomfortable. "I know they can deal with the badniks but I'm worried about these new robots. We still don't know what they're capable of."

Sonic turned to Tails. "Has the information Amy got from the ship been downloaded yet?"

The little fox opened up his tablet and swiped at the screen. "Yeah, there's lots of useful stuff here." He said with an appreciative smile to Amy. "Let me see… it's…"

The little fox's face fell.

"What is it?" Sonic demanded, taking the tablet. Amy read over his shoulder as Sonic scanned the blueprints on the page. She clasped her hand to her mouth in shock.

"The kids are the robots?" She breathed.

Tails nodded. "He's using them as an organic core. The kids aren't conscious inside. He's controlling them and making them move the robots."

"Why though?" Jewel asked "Surely it's easier to just make new robots?"

"Because we can't fight them." Sonic replied through gritted teeth. He pointed down at the plans and Amy saw what he meant.

"Oh my! That's sick, even for Eggman." She said angrily.

Sonic nodded. "The kids are fully wired up to the machines. They're like a life support system. Breathing for them, keeping their hearts going. If we try to take them out or smash the robot part it will kill them."

Jewels eyes suddenly widened with shock. "We need to warn the others!" She said quickly.

Tails snatched the pad back from Sonic and tried to reach Tangle, then Whisper, then Knuckles. Nothing was happening. "Something's jamming the signal." The fox growled.

"We need to get there then." Sonic said firmly.

Amy went to swing her legs out of the bed but the sharp pain in her side stung so badly she froze. Sonic shook his head. "No you need to stay here." He said, easing her back onto the bed. "You're in no state to fight and I don't want you getting hurt again."

"You shouldn't be going anywhere either." Dr Clover said in a disproving voice. "Take your own advice and rest. Tails can fly there and warn them."

"There's not enough time." Sonic protested. "I have to run there. It's the only way."

Dr Clover opened her mouth but it was Sonics turn to interrupt her. "I understand the risks doc and I appreciate your concern but the kids lives depend on it."

Doctor clover saw that there was no point in arguing. As Sonic turned to run away Amy grabbed his wrist.

"Be careful." She said gently.

Sonic nodded and set off through the door, sending Dr Clovers papers flying out of her hands as he rushed away to save the day.

X x

Sonic didn't feel right. He could tell he was much slower than usual and felt like he wanted to throw up. He stumbled over his own feet once or twice but continued forwards. He had to make it in time. The alternative didn't bare thinking about. Finally the outskirts of Sunset Heights swam into view. As he zoomed forward Sonic could see two lines facing eachother. Large green metal creatures with pointed hats stood on one side and on the other he could just about make out the other members of the restoration. A red figure stood at the gates. Knuckles must be about to lead the restoration into battle.

"Got to go faster!" Sonic muttered to himself and urged his feet on. He was still some way off when he saw both sides charge.

Sonic heard the yells of his friends as they unwittingly lead the attack against the children. Sonic started yelling at them to stop but he wasn't close enough yet.

There was a sudden flash of light and Sonic watched as his friends were lifted off of the ground, wrapped in an odd glowing light. Floating high above them was a grey coloured hedgehog. His face contorted with the effort of lifting the whole of the restorations forces.

"Silver!" Sonic called up to him, relieved that the young hedgehog had stopped the attack. Silver forced the resistance back and set them free.

"What's the big idea?" Vector demanded angrily as he dusted himself off. Sonic could see Whisper readying her weapon.

"Stop!" He yelled. "The kids are in the robots. If we attack them they'll be killed."

Sonic watched a look of horror pass over his friends faces as they looked towards the large metal elves advancing on them slowly.

"What do we do?" Vector demanded.

Silver floated down beside Sonic. "We have to retreat." He said urgently.

The rest of the group looked far from happy with this plan but there was no other way around it. The group turned on their heels and ran away. As they reached the town gate Tangle reached her tail up high and pulled it down, blocking them from the attackers.

"It wont hold them long." She warned as she backed away.

"To the tunnels." Knuckles instructed. The group followed. Silver kept pace with Sonic and saw him wince as he ran.

"You're hurt?" The grey hedgehog gasped.

"Not really." Sonic assured him. "Amy was and I had to give her some of my blood. I'll be fine. Supposed to be taking things easy though."

"We'll running away is pretty easy." Silver reasoned. "Doesn't feel right though."

Sonic was inclined to agree. They reached the town hall as the sound of crunching metal echoed through the town. The elves had clearly breached the gate.

"Not that I'm unhappy to see you Silver but why exactly are you here?" Sonic said, ducking into the tunnel.

"The future has changed." Silver said solemnly.

"Of course it has." Sonic sighed. "You know, you should just live here. It would be easier."

Silver nodded. "It certainly seems that way sometimes." He said.

Once they were all inside the tunnel Knuckles beat his fists into the sides of the wall at the entrance, caving it in. If the elves were going to track them to the mountains they were going to have to take the long way around.


	7. Chapter 7

Aboard the egg carrier Dr Eggman maniacal laugh echoed down every corridor leaving and sentient being aboard in no doubt that he was VERY pleased with himself. The man himself had been so confident of victory at Sunset heights that he had not bothered to oversee the proceedings in the control room. Instead he set about the next stage of his campaign in a large cavernous room in the bowels of the ship.

That worried Starline. He knew that the doctor had a large brain and was more than capable of taking on several things at once but so far the great man had not shown any great ability when it came to staying focused. In the past that had been his downfall. Starline was not keen to make the same mistakes.

"Are you not concerned that Sonic knows our plan?" The platypus said tentatively, interrupting the doctor mid cackle.

"He's supposed to know!" The doctor said dismissively and returned to his work, sealing the maser emerald in giant metal casing. "The whole point is they wont attack the elves with the children inside."

"But with Silver here from the future they will know about our plans for the adults." Starline reasoned.

"With that meddling rodent here from the future it proves only one thing." The doctor snarled. "That we win."

Starline wasn't so sure.

"He will have come to change the future and ensure it's not enacted!" Starline protested boldly.

The doctor finally stopped welding and lifted his visor. He handed his machine to Cubot who instantly dropped it. Eggman scowled at the little yellow robot who instantly slunk off to hide.

"It is already too late for them to stop my plans." Eggman said, rounding on Starline. "The elves have been rolled out across the world and are collecting more recruits for my army. Soon I will control the next generation of mobians. All that remains is to destroy the previous generation and I will have absolute control."

Starline was somewhat placated. He had to hand it to the doctor, it certainly made sense in theory but the platypus worried about its execution. He strode over to the large green emerald that stood before him. Starline could see his own concerned face reflected back at him on its vivid, green surface.

"Will this be enough to power the whole army AND the doomsday weapon?" He inquired. He could see the figure of Dr Eggman approach from behind him in the glassy emerald.

The human nodded. "The emeralds power is more than enough." He said simply.

Starline felt uncomfortable, he did not want to question the doctor but the weapon was, as yet untested.

"When can it be tested?" He asked the doctor delicately.

The evil mans eyes sparkled brightly with anticipation. "By the time we reach our target it will be ready. That will be it's first test."

Without any further discussion Eggman slammed down his visor and snatched the welding machine up from the floor. Starline left the doctor to his work and went back to the control room. He hoped that the doctor wasn't underestimating his old foe yet again.

x x x

Still feeling worse for wear after his blood loss Sonic the hedgehog hitched a ride back to base with the restorations own carrier. Technically it was one of eggmans but they had commandeered it during the war. All of the displaced townspeople from Sunset Heights were now safely stowed away below deck. They would have to find them temporary shelter back in the city. The remaining members of the restoration sat up on the command deck as Whisper flew them home.

Sonic rested himself in one of the chairs with his feet propped up on the control panel. The others were having a fairly heated debate about the groups next move. Sonic was trying his best to stay out of it. He was still brooding from their defeat. Even if he had been up to full strength he doubted he would have been able to do anything to stop the attack and that was not a pleasant thought. They needed to find a way to free the children safely from the elves and for that they needed more information. As Knuckles and Silver yelled over eachother Sonic reached across the desk and pressed a few buttons. The beeping sound of the video phone calling HQ stopped the others in their tracks and they all turned to see what Sonic was up to.

As HQ swam into view Sonic noted three faces in their main office, Tails, Jewel and…

"Amy, shouldn't you be resting?" Sonic sighed impatiently. "Why aren't you in the hospital wing?"

"The same reason you aren't." The pink hedgehog retorted. "There's too much at stake. I see the others are with you. And Silver." She waved at the grey hedgehog who smiled back. "I take it you got there in time."

Sonic nodded. "Yep, managed to get there before Knucklehead beat up some toddlers."

"Hey!" Knuckles snapped, rising to the bait. "I think you'll find Silver was the one who stopped us. You were too busy huffing and puffing like a slowpoke."

"Are you okay?" Amy asked quickly. Sonic could see tears forming in her eyes. He knew she felt guilty about Sonic being less than his full self at the moment.

He waved his hand in a placating gesture. "I'm fine Ames." He assured her. "The only thing wounded is my pride. We had to retreat and take the townspeople with us."

"I'll find room for them here." Jewel said quickly. "I have some resources left over from the restoration so theres plenty of food and blankets."

Sonic nodded. "What we really need is to work out is how to get their home back and stop this happening anywhere else. Tails, is there anything in the blueprints Amy swiped that can help us?"

"I'm looking over it with Dr Clover." Tails explained. "As the children are hooked up to some sort of life support system inside the elves I'm hoping the Doctors medical knowledge will help us get them out safely. We're working on it but no break through yet." The fox said apologetically.

Silver stepped forward and addressed them all. "To be honest the Elves are only part of the issue." He explained. Sonic let out a deep sigh, nothing was ever easy was it?

"As I explained to Sonic, the future has changed again. "According to the records I found, all of the children of Mobius were assimilated into those horrible machines we saw attacking Sunset heights. Everyone under ten was taken. While that was happening Eggman unleashed his new weapon on the adults. He wiped out almost everyone, some survived long enough to write down what had happened but even then details are scant about this weapon."

"Aside from fact it killed everyone." Tangle sighed. The lemur perched herself on the edge of the control panel and shot a concerned look at Whisper who patted her gently on the hand.

"With full control over the population Eggmans army spread far and wide." Silver continued. "When the children inside the Elves got too old they were destroyed, eventually leaving nothing but robots, created by Eggman for the sole purpose of serving him."

The others stood in awed silence. Eventually heard Amy speak, her voice was trembling. "What is this weapon?" She asked quietly.

Silver shrugged. "I'm sorry but I don't know." He said sadly. "Like I said, the records became pretty scant after the adults were destroyed."

Sonic looked over to Knuckles, who had been unusually quiet in all of this. The echidna stood in the shadows with his arms folded moodily across his chest.

"What are you thinking?" Sonic called over. His red friend snapped out of his reverie.

"I'm thinking about the master emerald." Knuckles said in a low growl.

"Aren't you always?" Sonic replied sarcastically. "Any reason in particular?"

Knuckles pounded his right fist angrily into his left hand. "Don't you see?" He demanded. "If the doctor stole it he must want it for this weapon. G.U.N knew all about it. That's why Rouge and Shadow turned up on Angel island.

"Nice of them to give us the heads up." Vector grumbled. He and the other Chaotix had been sat at a table playing cards during this debate and so far hadn't become involved. Now the large crocodile set his cards aside and turned to the others.

"If everything's pointing to the emerald then we need to get looking for it ASAP. Just leave it to the chaotix!"

Sonic shook his head. "I'm not disputing that finding the emerald is important but we don't KNOW for a fact that he's using it for a weapon. We can't get distracted from finding a way to free the kids."

On the screen above them Jewel offered a solution. "We should split up into teams." She suggested. "some of you can look for the emerald while the others try and defend the cities and towns that are coming under attack. Tails and Dr Clover work out a way to save the children."

Sonic looked behind her and could see Tails swiping away on his tablet. He tapped his feet impatiently as he waited for his foxy friend to add his opinion. After a few moments Tails pressed a few buttons on the console at HQ and his device was mirrored onto the monitors at HQ and on the carriers. It was a map of mobius. Eggmans face covered the towns and cities that the evil doctor had already snatched children from.

"From the data we've collected there's only one town that's actually been hit by the elves."

"Sunset heights." Sonic said impatiently. "We know buddy. We were just there."

Tails continued despite the interruption. "For them to have been rolled out so quickly I think it's safe to assume that the carrier was somewhere nearby." The boy genius explained. "The next nearest city is Paradise walk. The majority of its population are adults and the elderly. They have reported that ALL of their children were taken and none managed to hide from the robosantas."

"Sounds like a likely target." Espio agreed from the table. Sonic nodded. "This weapon Silver mentioned is likely to be onboard the carrier."

"Ok so half of us head there and the other half look for the carrier nearby and get the master emerald." Sonic said in an authoritative voice. The others seemed happy with the plan.

"I'll go for the emerald!" Knuckles said predictably. Sonic saw Amy shake her head on the screen.

"We're going to need muscle on the ground." She reasoned. "If Eggman is focused on the attack he's unlikely to leave his A team on the carrier. Knowing Eggman the emerald will be relatively unguarded. We need to sneak aboard. Tangle, Whisper and I can…"

"You're not going anywhere." Sonic said quickly. He saw Amys cheeks flush.

"I'm not sitting here while you guys fight." She argued.

Sonic leaned closer to the microphone, uncomfortably aware that the others were watching him with wry, knowing smiles on their faces. "I don't want you to get hurt again." He said quietly. Sonic was pretty sure he heard Charmy snigger in the background. Amy smiled at him.

"I wont." She promised. "Going on the eggcarrier will be a stealth mission. Besides, I'll have Tangle and Whisper with me this time."

Sonic could see Tangle beaming at him. Whisper smiled shyly to.

"Don't worry." The lemur said and winked. "We'll look after her for you."

Slightly pink, Sonic turned back to the monitor. "You're not well enough."

"You kept fighting through the metal virus!" Amy pointed out.

Sonic had had enough. "Tails can you patch in Dr Clover." He snapped.

Amy crossed her arms defiantly. "Yeah Tails," She said dryly. "Fetch the doctor. She can tell Sonic that he should be resting to."

Sonic took a deep calming breath. "Fine, just don't come crying to me when you're hurt again."

Sonic stomped away from the screen. He hadn't meant that, he just wanted his friend safe. He didn't like the idea of her battling away from him whilst she was weak. But then again it was going to be hard going on the ground. If Amy INSISTED on being involved then maybe the carrier was the best place for her.

"Just be careful." He muttered eventually.

There was an awkward silence which was eventually broken by a polite cough from Jewel. "If that's all sorted them maybe EVERYONE should get some rest." She said. "It's going to be a long day tomorrow."

Sonic nodded and the screen went blank. Aware that the others were still staring at him he made his way below deck to finally get his head down and sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

By the next morning the restorations carrier had arrived back near headquarters and Jewel was organizing volunteers to find a comfortable place to stay for those poor souls displaced by the occupation of Sunset Heights.

"Maybe you should stay and help with this." Sonic said to Amy, waving vaguely at the droves of refugees marching out of the carrier into the towns square. "You're really great at organizing things. I'm sure Jewel would appreciate your help."

Amy raised an eyebrow she could clearly see through Sonics attempt at flattery.

"Jewel knows what she's doing and I trust her to keep everyone safe here. It's the people at Paradise Walk that we need to worry about." She replied.

Sonic had to agree with that.

"There's no way of talking you out of this is there?" He sighed. Amy shook her head and Sonic found himself smiling.

"You've always been stubborn." He teased. "It used to be really annoying"

"Used to be?" Amy laughed.

Sonic suddenly felt uncharacteristically serious. He placed his hands on Amy's shoulders and looked into her emerald eyes.

"Knuckles says I've been a bad influence on you." The blue hedgehog said quietly. "He seemed to think you're trying to be more like me... to impress me."

Amy blushed and looked away. Sonic gently took her chin and pulled her gaze back to his.

"I can't deny my feelings for you have changed me over the years." She said softly.

Sonic had suspected this even before Knuckles had brought it up. Even so it hurt to hear from the horses mouth that Amy was taking risks because of him. He lowered his head.

"I don't want to be the reason you get hurt." He said firmly.

"You're not." Amy replied. It was her turn to lift his head so that he met her eye. "Since I met you you've always put others first and stood up for what's right. Those are the things I admire about you. Not because you're the fastest or because you can fight. Your sense of justice and ability to inspire people are the qualities I try and emulate. I fight because it's the right thing to do. It's my choice."

Sonic had never thought of it like that. He had always believed his speed and the fact that he was a hero were what people admired about him the most, especially Amy. She sought him out even before they met because of it. The fact that she had grown so and could see past it all, to see the person he hoped he was made him feel incredibly proud.

A polite cough behind them both snapped Sonic back to the present. Tangle was casually leaning against the wall and nodded her head towards the tornado. It was clearly time for takeoff. Tails sat in the pilot seat with Whisper and her gun as passengers. Sonic walked Amy over.

"Remember the plan." He said to the three girls. "Tails will drop you off on the carrier. You need to wait till we've engaged Egghead in battle. Then it should be safe."

Tangle leapt onto the wing and reached her abnormally stretchy tail down to help Amy. The pink hedgehog took it in her hand and started to pull herself up. Sonic saw her wince with pain and gave her a boost. He tried to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Sat cross legged on the wings of the plane Tangle sighed wistfully. "It's a shame we'll miss all of the action." She said aloud. "Try and save us some badniks for after we've deactivated this weapon" she said to Sonic.

Sonic smiled "you'll have to get things done up there quickly if you want to join in."

The young lemur saluted sarcastically "Aye aye."

With that Tails fired up the plane and Sonic stood back from the whirring blades of the propeller. The young fox turned the plane and headed off down the runway. Soon the tornado was a speck in the distance. Sonic found himself silently praying it wasn't the last time he'd see it or its passengers.

It did not take Tails and the girls long to find the egg carrier hiding in the mountains above Paradise Walk. After all, it wasn't exactly discrete.

The young fox circled the plane behind the large ship and approached it from the rear. Up ahead, over the town hundreds of smaller drop ships floated in the sky, ready to rain down badniks and Elves. Amy could just make out the restorations forces in the distance. She crossed her fingers and hoped this worked.

Tails wasn't going to land on the carrier. The idea was to give the impression that he was flying past as the girls jumped aboard. The brave little fox would then draw the ships fire away from them as they made their way discretely into the ship. This of course meant the girls would be leaping out of a moving plane and freefalling quite some way into a moving target. She had neglected to tell Sonic that part of the plan before they left for fear he would put a stop to it. Now, as the stitches in her skin pulled at the flesh below and the wind rushed past her face Amy was beginning to think this whole thing was a bad idea.

She was just considering turning back when she felt something grab her waist. In seconds she was wrapped in grey fur and speeding towards the large metal surface below. Once her feet were firmly on the ground Tangle released Amy from her tail.

"Sorry," the lemur called apologetically over the rushing wind. "I'm under orders to keep you safe."

Next to Tangle Whisper the wolf lifted her mask and smiled.

"Thanks ladies." Amy said sincerely. "I promise not to slow you down."

Together the three girls headed for the service hatch they needed to use to enter the carrier where they were to wait for Sonics signal. That had been the plan anyway. They had not been expecting the service hatch to be so crowded. Two figures stood crouched down by its seal. One black, one white. They were pulling at the seal which appeared to be stuck. As the girls grew closer the black figure turned to face them. His arms were folded and he had a contemptuous smile on his lips.

"So Sonics sent you to do his dirty work?" Shadow sneered. "What's the matter? Is he too busy showing off and signing autographs"

Amy breezed past him to the hatch.

"Actually he thought this might need a more delicate feminine touch." Amy said cooly.

She summoned her hammer with her right hand and swung it hard at the service hatches lock. The hatch swung open and Amy leapt inside quickly. That had hurt but she didn't want to give shadow the satisfaction of seeing her in pain. Above her head she saw Rouge the bat peering down at her from the now open hatch.

"Here's to the feminine touch." The bat called and jumped down next to Amy. Once everyone was inside they made their way along the dark, metal lined corridors. Shadow and Rouge led the way.

Tangle pulled Amy to one side.

"We're supposed to wait for Sonics signal!" She said urgently.

Amy sighed deeply. "Have you met Shadow?! You try telling him to wait for Sonic!"

Whisper had now joined Tangle. They both looked unsure.

"Look," Amy explained. "Shadow and Rouge are going to charge in whatever we say to them. And as much as I hate to admit it having Shadow here is almost as good as having Sonic aboard to."

"I can hear you, you know." Shadow called from up ahead.

Amy rolled her eyes. "My point is," she said to her two friends. "Shadow and rouge are going to do their thing whatever we do. We might as well help. It may even get things done quicker."

Reluctantly the Wolf and Lemur nodded their agreement and trailed after the two gun agents.

In the control room Dr Eggman leaned forward in his chair and examined the screen before him.

Sat below orbot and cubot pressed various buttons as directed by their master.

"Show me the town center." The evil doctor barked.

Obediently Orbot pressed a few keys on the control panel and an overhead view of frightened villagers being herded into a central point flashed up on the screen.

Eggman laughed at the look of terror on their faces.

"And the blue rodent?" He demanded.

"Sonic and his friends are on the outskirts of the town engaging in battle with the badniks." orbot explained, he pointed a metallic finger to the screen above him where a small blob of blue occasionally whizzed into shot and smashed up a robot.

Eggman laughed. "It's all coming together nicely." He smirked.

Beside him Starline allowed himself a smile. "As predicted our guests have arrived." He informed the doctor.

Eggman stroked his mustache. "Excellent. Is it the red idiot?"

Starline smiled even more broadly than before. "It's better than we hoped." He informed his master. "He's sent Ms Rose."

The doctor howled with laughter. Starlines smile faltered a little though.

"As you guessed she had brought a team with her.. there is a slight hiccup in that Shadow is amongst them."

Eggman shifted in his chair. "No matter." He said thoughtfully. "Shadow certainly is formidable but we have an advantage."

"Which is?" Starline inquired. The dr smiled again. "We know they're walking into a trap."


	9. Chapter 9

A red laser zinged off of the ground narrowly missing Sonics foot and leaving a burn mark where it landed. The blue hedgehog leapt sideways then steadied himself before aiming a spindash at the robotic arm that had fired at him. He was trying his best to be careful and only hit the weapon not the robot. The elf robot seemed to sense his trepidation and countered easily.

Sonic gritted his teeth. This was impossible! The elves had engaged the restoration in battle no sooner than they had arrived. Sonics friends were trying their best to get through the blockade of Elves to fight the badniks but the Elves were not letting up. Sonic suspected they were deliberately shielding the badniks for some other nefarious purpose. The smaller, lighter robots all seemed to be heading further into the town. Sonic was trying his best to get through and find out what they were up to but the elves thwarted him at every turn.

He hoped Tails and the doctor came up with a plan soon, there seemed to be no safe way to incapacitate the elves. Overhead Sonic could hear the whirring of the tornados engine and the occasional 'pew pew' of the little fox firing down at the badniks bellow. There was another sound way above his head. A whistling noise growing closer and closer. Dodging another shot from the Elf he was fighting Sonic turned his attention skyward. Something was rocketing towards him. Something black and blue.

Sonic followed the incoming blurs trajectory around the corner into a side street where it crashed hard into the ground with a scream of metal and a shower of sparks.

"Shadow?" Sonic gasped as the black hedgehog jumped up and away from the blue creature embedded in the pavement. "And metal?"

The robotic copy of Sonic was slowly getting to its feet. It looked as though it had been in pretty bad shape even before it had crashed out of the sky. It's paint job was flaked and wires were exposed around its core. Judging by the fact that it hadn't insulted him yet Sonic guessed it's voice box must have been damaged after its last butt whooping.

Shadow aimed a flying kick at its face but the metal monstrosity countered. It grabbed hold of his leg and swung him painfully hard into the wall. Dust and brick filled the street.

Sonic attacked and hit Metal hard in its chest. It flew a few feet backwards in a crumpled heap. As the creature rose to it's feet Shadow dusted himself down and joined the fray.

"Nice of you to drop in." Sonic quipped. The two hedgehogs whirled towards the robot. "I don't recall your invite reading 'plus one' though."

"We were ambushed on the egg carrier." Shadow grunted and he lifted Metal Sonic high above his head and threw him into a waiting Sonic. The blue hedgehog volleyed the robot back towards his moody counterpart.

"The carrier?" Sonic said quickly. "And who do you mean we?"

"Myself, Rouge, your girlfriend…"

"Not my girlfriend." Sonic interrupted. Metal had taken advantage of him being distracted and booted him hard in the ribs.

".. The wolf and the lemur." Shadow finished. "Eggman was anticipating our arrival. He set a trap for us using the master emerald."

"Where are the girls now?" Sonic demanded urgently.

Shadow punched metal in its face breaking the casing around its eyes. "I was a little distracted by blue boy here." He growled. "I'm sure they're holding their own."

Sonic jabbed at his ear piece.

"Ames, can you hear me?" He called. No response.

After all that had happened with Santabot Sonic had insisted that Amy bring her communicator with her on this mission. If she was ok there was no way she wouldn't answer.

"Girls?" Sonic tried again. This time he heard an eerie laughter in the background.

Enraged Sonic turned to his copy.

"We're going to have to wrap this up." He snapped.

Sonic span straight at Shadow who grabbed the blue blurs arms and flung him straight up into the air. Once he had gathered momentum Sonic turned himself into a ball and rocketed like a bullet from a gun hard into Metals chest. As he ground deeper and deeper into the metal the light in the robots eyes and he slumped to the ground. Sonic back flipped and landed next to Shadow with a flourish.

"We need to get onto the carrier." Sonic said firmly. "We're not gaining any ground here. We have to help the girls out with this weapon. Lets head outside the city so Tails can land and get us"

Shadow nodded his agreement. Both hedgehogs were preparing to retreat when a large shadow blocked their path. An elf was lumbering towards them.

"Crap." Sonic swore. He turned back to the other end of the street when he became aware of a bright light behind him and an intense heat.

Spinning around he saw a purple cat surrounded by flames. She was facing the elf with a ball of fire growing between her paws.

"No!" Sonic yelled.

He and Shadow moved forwards as one and slammed into the cat, knocking her off of her feet. The cat turned on them angrily, her eyes glowing more dangerously than the flames that surrounded her. When she saw it was Sonic her face fell into a look of pure confusion.

"There's a kid in there!" Sonic shouted.

Blaze dimmed her flames and leapt to her feet alongside the two hedgehogs. The three of them ran back out into the wider street where Sonic had been fighting before Shadow had fallen out of the sky. All around them the restoration were trying anything they could to slow the elves down without hurting them.

"The Sol emeralds have sent me here believing you are all in danger." Blaze explained.

Sonic gave a half hearted laugh and waved vaguely at the chaos all around them. "What ever gave them that idea?"

"What is the situation?" Blaze asked.

"Don't hit the big robots." Sonic instructed. "Eggmans put kids inside them. If we break the robot we break the child. Shadow and I are heading for the egg carrier. There's some sort of weapon on board that can destroy the whole town."

"It appears the Egg carrier is coming to you." Blaze pointed out.

Sonic and Shadow followed her outstretched finger up into the sky above the town. The carrier was moving slowly into place over the town center casting a dark shadow on the streets below. Sonic noted that there was an indentation in the middle of the carrier. Something green sparkled at its epicenter.

"The master emerald!" Knuckles shouted.

"That boys got a one track mind." Sonic sighed.

Vector emerged from amongst the crowd and ran over to Sonic flanked by his fellow chaotix.

"The badniks have been pushing everyone towards the middle of the town." The crocodile snapped. "Right underneath the emerald."

"It's going to fire straight down on them!" Charmy squeaked. "What can we do?"

Sonic thought hard. Their best shot of stopping this was still getting aboard the egg carrier and stopping eggman from activating the weapon in the first place.

"Just keep trying to get through to the center!" Sonic instructed the others. "Shadow, Blaze, Silver with me."

The others followed Sonic quickly through the streets as he headed for the large open space outside the city. He stuck his finger in his ear as he ran.

"Tails," He shouted. "We need a ride. Meet us outside the town ASAP."

Overhead he head the tornado swooping into position. After a few moments Tails voice buzzed in his ear.

"Not sure that's the best plan at the moment." The fox said cautiously.

"What?" Sonic demanded as he screeched to a halt at the town gates. "Why?"

Tails didn't need to answer. As they reached the open fields beyond the town Sonic and his companions were stopped in their tracks. There were four new elves stood waiting for them. But these elves were different. Although similar in size their casing was completely transparent. Eggman wanted him to see who was inside these robots.

"Amy?" Sonic breathed.


	10. Chapter 10

Four elves stood before Sonic, Shadow, Blaze and Silver. Through the clear casing Sonic could see Amy, Rouge, Tangle and Whisper were unconscious. Their heads rolled listlessly from side to side with the robots movements.

Whispers elf made the first move, charging towards them like a Rhino at full speed. Silver used his telekinetic powers to lift her high into the air. This turned out to be one of his stupider ideas as it now meant that the robot had a vantage point. Bullets rained down on Sonic and his friends from the Gatling gun in the robots arm.

"PUT HER DOWN!" Blaze yelled as they dived out of the way.

Silver pushed Whisper backwards. She landed heavily in the grass several feet away. The young hedgehog flew after her to continue their battle as the other elves stepped forward. Blaze took on Tangle who lunged forwards with her fists raised. The purple cat sent a jet of flame burning at the creatures feet. The elf simply strode through it. Sonic and Shadow were left with the other two.

"I'll leave you and your girlfriend to it." Shadow grunted and launched himself at Rouge.

"Again, not my girlfriend." Sonic called after him.

He turned to face Amy. There were hundreds of tubes poking into her arms and stomach and a long tube was stuck down her throat. Sonic cursed himself. He shouldn't have let her come.

Amy's elf balled its fist and slammed it hard into the ground where Sonic had been standing. He dodged it and managed to get himself on top of the Robot. Looking down he saw a complex myriad of wires and buttons. He pressed his headset and a red screen appeared in front of his right eye.

"Tails? Doc? Are you seeing this?"

"Oh My!" Doctor Clover gasped. "That's far more complex than anything I've seen at the hospital."

"Any suggestions would be helpful." Sonic shouted as Amy's elf lifted him high above its head, ready to slam him back down into the dirt. The robot jarred slightly as it moved. Looking down Sonic could see the hundreds of buttons inside the robot were flashing read.

"I didn't do it!" Sonic said.

The elf swung him into the floor with one hand. The other hung limply by its side. Sonic looked over to the other robots. They all seemed to be pummeling his friends quite happily but Amy's elf was moving slowly and jerking. Inside the flashing red cockpit he could see Amy's face twist with pain and gag on the tube in her throat.

"What's happening?!" He called desperately into his ear piece.

"No, No no!" He heard Tails wail. "Doc somethings wrong. She's dying?!"

"WHAT?" Sonic screamed. "No! Doc help me stop this?"

He looked over to the robot.

"There's blood leaking out.!"

"She must have torn her stitches." Doctor Clover replied with amazing calmness. "You have to get her out of the robot immediately."

"But that will definitely kill her." Sonic argued. The Amy elf swung an awkward punch at him. Amy's face was pale. There was no wincing and no sign of pain anymore. She was fully unresponsive.

"It will stop her heart." The doctor admitted but hopefully we can get it started again."

Sonic didn't like the sound of 'hopefully' but what choice did they have?

"Tails you packed the first aid kit like I asked?" The doctor checked.

"Yep." Tails responded. "It's in the hold."

"Good, you need to land and get it to Amy now." Doctor Clover instructed. "Sonic there's no time to waste. Get her out of the machine. You'll have to do do CPR until Tails gets there."

Sonic was glad they couldn't see how pink his cheeks had turned. "Really I…"

"There's no time. Now Sonic" Doctor Clover yelled.

Sonic aimed a spin dash at the elf. He found it amazingly easy to break through the casing. Eggman had clearly banked on the Resistance not wanting to risk hurting the kids. He snatched Amy out of the machine and landed heavily in the dirt. The robot crashed down somewhere behind them. As Sonic pulled the tube from Amy's throat she gave a rattling gasp then stopped breathing entirely.

Over head Shadow rocketed backwards into a wall. Rouges elf clearly had some kick on it.

"Cover me!" He called desperately to the black hedgehog.

Sonic pressed the heel of his palm into Amy's chest in steady rhythmic beats. He counted the thrusts up to thirty. When it came to giving two breaths all of his nerves were gone. He tilted Amy's head backwards and pressed his lips against hers. They were soft and cold.

"No, please no." He cried desperately, seeing that there had been no effect.

He tried again. By the third round he was so absorbed with his task that he hadn't noticed Tails arrive. The fox moved into place and, unceremoniously tearing Amy's dress, placed the defibrillator paddles on her chest.

"Stand clear!" He ordered Sonic and shocked the little pink hedgehog.

Amy jolted but there was still no signs of her breathing.

Tails charged the paddles again.

"Look out!" came a voice behind them.

Tails turned with the charged panels in his hands as the Rouge elf swung at him. As her arms connected with the paddles there was an awful scream as the electricity shot through the panels and wiring. Sonic watched in horror as the elf fell backwards.

"ROUGE!" Shadow yelled. He ran forwards. As he reached the Robots cock pit the casing came flying up in the air and a white boot broke through it.

Rouge the bat emerged, coughing and pulling the tube from her throat. Thankfully she seemed otherwise unharmed.

"How?" Sonic gasped.

Tails had already turned his attention back to Amy.

"The electricity from the defibrillator must have stopped her heart momentarily." He theorized. "If the machine thought she was dead then it must have rejected her."

"We need to get that to the others." Shadow grunted, as he helped the white bat to her feet.

"After we've saved Amy!" Sonic snapped.

"There's a spare in the plane." Tails called to Shadow. "I brought it in case this one didn't charge."

The black hedgehog nodded and sped away to the plane. Tails shocked Amy again.

Rouge had stumbled over to join them. She crouched by Amy's head.

"Come on kid." She muttered.

As much as she loved her tough girl routine Sonic knew Rouge could be pretty kind when she cared about people. Sadly most of the time the bat cared about jewels more than she did people. On this occasion he could see tears forming in her eyes.

"Please?" Sonic muttered.

Tails turned to him. "More CPR Sonic."

Sonic was a little more embarrassed this time when it came to the rescue breath. Last time he hadn't had an audience. He pressed his lips into Amy for a second time with his best friend and occasional ally watching. He had to close his eyes and pretend they weren't there.

This time her lips felt warmer. They twitched as he pressed his against them and pulled him into a long lingering kiss. As he pulled away he felt Amy's breath against his face.

"Yes!" Tails cheered. "Thank goodness."

A voice Sonics ear reminded them that they were not out of the woods yet.

"You need to cauterize the wound urgently." Doctor Clover commanded.

Sonic pulled up some metal from the wreckage of Amy's elf. Nearer the town Shadow had shocked Tangle and Whispers elves. He, Blaze and Silver were helping them out of the wretched machines.

"Blaze." Sonic called urgently. "We need your firepower."

The purple princess flew over and took hold of the piece of metal. Sonic had to look away as she pressed it into Amy's side. He was glad the poor thing was already unconscious.

"Now Tails, give her a shot of adrenaline." Came Dr Clovers voice.

Tails followed the doctors instructions. He injected Amy and covered her wound.

Sonic watched her chest rise and fall peacefully at last. He couldn't put his relief into words and simply slapped an appreciative hand down on Tails shoulder.

"You did good bud." He smiled. "And you to Doc." He called to Clover.

"There's more to be done." Shadow grunted and held up the defibrillator. "There's a whole town full of children trapped in those machines."

Sonic looked up into the sky where the egg carrier was still moving into place.

"The main fights up there though." He reasoned. Once again he pressed his ear piece. "Knucks, Chaotix? Meet us at the north gate."

The red echidna and the detectives were them in moments.

"What is is?" Knuckles demanded. He looked around at the trashed robots and the injured girls. "What happened here?"

Sonic explained as quickly as he could. "Knucks, I want you on the carrier with us. We're going after the emerald so we can stop this machine. Charmy, Espio can you use the defibs on the elves and get the kids out?"

The chameleon nodded and the bee ripped off a smart salute.

"What about me?" Vector moaned.

Sonic lifted Amy and placed her in the large crocodiles arms.

"Guard her with your life." He said through gritted teeth.

Vector nodded. "Whatever you say mack."

Sonic was certain that he would take his task seriously.

With that he turned to the rest of his crew. "If you can fly grab someone who cant. Those left over head to the tornado. It's time to end this."

"We might want to hurry." Tangle gasped.

Sonic followed her gaze skyward. The emerald was starting to glow.


	11. Chapter 11

The Tornando had never had such a bumpy landing. Eggman was clearly expecting its arrival and aimed all of the carriers cannons at the plane. Tails weaved expertly between the hail of bullets and aimed for the landing strip. From its right wing Sonic peeped his head over the side in time to see the two cannons immediately in front of the plane explode. Rouge and Shadow had landed first and managed to take out the massive guns. Sonic would have to wait to thank them though, as the tornados wheels slammed into the long tarmac strip the carriers hangar doors slid open to reveal the gloating figures of Dr Eggman and his cronie Starline.

"Thanks for the warm welcome." Sonic called as he leapt off of the wing and strode towards the evil doctor. Behind him his friends assembled and fell in line.

"Well I wanted to ensure you had the best seats in the house for my weapons debut." The old man crowed.

Sonic clenched his fists but kept his voice calm.

"Shut down the weapon Eggface. It's over! We've freed the kids from your machines and you don't have enough badniks left to keep control."

"Maybe not badniks." Eggman conceded. "But I know a not so jolly old robot who's definitely put you on his naughty list."

Sonic tutted. "Robosanta? I creamed that thing yesterday."

Eggman threw his head back with loud guffawing laughter. Sonic felt the tension rise as his friends got into their fighting stances behind him. Something was moving behind Eggman and Starline. Something big.

"Oh he was just a warm up Sonic." The doctor said with an evil glint in his eye. "Think of him as the mall Santa. THIS is the real deal. Meet Mega-Robosanta."

The robot had to crouch to fit under the hangar door. It was enormous. Sonic wondered how the carrier was able to stay in the air with the monster robot on board. It must weigh a ton.

On the face of it Mega-Robosanta seemed to be an upscaled version of its regular counterpart but Sonic and his friends soon realised this creature had a few more tricks up its red sleeves. It swung a giant sack off of its back and aimed the opening at Sonics crew. Large square presents wrapped up with bows shot from the sack and landed at the feet of Sonic and his friends. Sonic could hear ticking.

"Bombs!" Knuckles yelled.

The red echidna lifted the present at his feet and threw it hard over the side of the carrier. It exploded instantly. Sonic backfliped away from the one in front of him but was thrown by the blast as it went off. Tails caught him in mid air and settled him down. The group dove for cover as Mega-Robosanta continued to launch presents at them.

"Ho-ho-ho!" Egman boomed. "You know it's not fair to gang up on Saint Nick like this. What do you say we even the numbers out Starline?"

The Platypus laughed and pulled a remote from his pocket. He handed it to his superior who pressed the comically large red button in the middle.

"Now Dasher! now Dancer! Now Prancer and Vixen! On Comet! On Cupid! On Doner and Blitzen!" Eggman yelled in delight as eight metal raindeer Shot from the hangar behind him and flew through the air above the heroes.

Starline turned to Eggman. "Aren't we missing one?"

Eggman counted theatrically on his fingers whilst the metal reindeer charged at Sonic and the others.

"A yes!" He exclaimed eventually then burst into song. "Rudolph with your nose so bright. Wont you slaughter Sonics friends tonight?"

Eggman and Starline turned back into the hangar. As they walked away the largest of the reindeer flew out over their head. This one had an ominous flashing red nose.

Sonic decided to aim for the big guy and leave the reindeer to the rest of his crew.

Above him he Silver grabbd Blitzen with his telekinesis and slammed it into Doner. Sparks rained down over them all.

Tails was on top of Dasher, trying to rip the reindeer's head off and Blaze was doing her best to melt Comet.

Sonic dodged the exploding presents and made his way closer to Mega-robosanta. He felt movement either side of him. Shadow and Knuckles had joined him.

"How did you take out the other one?" Shadow asked.

Sonic shrugged. "It was already in a bad way." He explained. "Amy had given it a hammering."

The black hedgehog tutted. "So you just let your girlfriend do all of the work?"

"NOT. MY. GIRLFRIEND." Sonic grunted hitting Mega-robosanta in the chest with three consecutive spin dashes.

"It didn't look that way when you were locking lips with her." Shadow teased as he hit landed on the robots shoulder and kicked it hard in the head.

Knuckles eyes widened and a stupid grin spread across his face.

"What?!" The echidna demanded.

Mecha-robosanta swiped him in the side but Knuckles retained his goofy smile.

"It was CPR!" Sonic protested as he hit the robot in its sack. "It was a medical procedure!"

"Playing Doctors and nurses?" Shadow grunted from on top of the robot. He was clearly enjoying this.

"Can you guys quit it?" Sonic moaned.

Behind him Tangle was using her tail to slam Cupid into the ground. "What's going on?" She called.

"Sonic and Amy kissed!" Knuckles replied. He sounded like an old woman gossiping about her favorite soap opera.

"Awww!" Tangle cooed. Whisper shot Sonic a thumbs up.

He was dying inside.

Driven by embarrassment and a desire to get things over quickly Sonic span at Mega-robosantas arm. As predicted the faux Santa countered and sent him flying backwards into Blitzen. Sonic used the momentum to smash into the seven other reindeer leaving only Santa and Rudolph fighting.

"Sonic!" Tails called, pointing up at the remaining reindeer. "Look at his nose."

"Yeah yeah, It's so bright." Sonic said dismissively.

"It's flashing." Tails pointed out. "Very quickly!"

"It's going to blow." Rouge warned.

Sonic could indeed see that the metal Rudolph's nose was flashing quickly as though counting down on a timer.

"Crud!" Sonic swore.

He turned to Knuckles and Shadow. "When you two have finished mocking me could you line the big man up for me?"

"Oh I'm never going to be done mocking you for this." Knuckles called in delight as he ran to mega-robosantas side.

"Great." Sonic muttered.

He turned to the red nosed reindeer and waved his arms for its attention.

"Hey Ruddy!" He called. "You sick of everyone laughing and calling you names yet?"

The reindeer landed a few feet from the Tornado and stamped its feet impatiently as though waiting to charge. Everyone else backed out of its way. Sonic locked eyes with the brute. After what felt like a lifetime it charged at him.

The reindeer was quick but Sonic was quicker. He leapt into the air as it reached him and vaulted over its back. He kicked off of the robots rump, propelling it forwards even faster than before. It slammed hard into mega-robosanta who was being held still by Knuckles and Shadow. The echidna and hedgehog jumped out of harms way as the two metailic creatures collided. There was an ominous beeping then..

Bits of robot were falling everywhere as Rudolph and Santa exploded.

Tangle and Tails high fived and started to cheer.

"Come on." Sonic urged the others. "There's no time to lose."

"What's the rush?" Shadow asked sardonically. "Got a hot date?"

With his cheeks burning Sonic led the way trough the hangar. Knuckles was laughing so hard he had to clinging on to Rouge for support.

Eventually they all made their way to the large chamber at the center of the carrier. The sight of the master emerald hooked up to a complex, twisted maze of wires soon wiped the smile off of the echidas face.

The emerald was glowing brightly now. They didn't have long to stop it. On the other side of th room Eggman and Starline were cornered but clearly not giving up so easy. In front of them Orbot and Cubot were pressing buttons on a panel.

"Shut it off." Sonic called. "Now."

Eggmans laughter was hysterical now.

"It's too late rodent!" He screeched. "There is no shutting it down now."

"We'd love to stay and watch you try." Starline smiled. "But I'm afraid things are about to get a little dangerous around here and as superior minds the doctor and I have a responsibility to survive."

Cubot pressed a button on the panel and metal casing shot up around the evil group.

"Toodles!" Eggman laughed as their makeshift escape pod was jettisoned out of the carrier. Shadow took a step after them but Sonic grabbed his arm and motioned towards the emerald.

"Any ideas gang?" he asked.

Tails shook his head sadly. "It could takes weeks to work this machine out."

Shadow folded his arms. "We could smash the emerald."

"No!" Knuckles and Rouge shouted in unison.

Sonic turned to Tails who seemed to consider it.

"We could but when it smashes the shards will rocket off into hundreds of pieces." He explained. "It would tear holes all over the carrier and send us crashing down into the mountains."

"But away from the town?" Sonic checked.

Everyone was silent as the magnitude of what he was saying sank in. This was now a suicide mission.

"I want all of you to head back to the town." Sonic explained. "Get the people out. Grab the Chaotix… and Amy. Save them and yourselves."

No one moved. It was Tails who spoke first.

"I'm not saying it will work but there's a chance I could land the carrier in the field if the damage isn't too bad."

Blaze considered this. "I could try soldering the holes shut as you land."

"And I'll try to hold her steady with my powers." Silver added.

Sonic looked at his fiends. He knew there was no point in arguing with them. They were all in this until the end.

"Ok Fine." He said quickly." Tails get to the cockpit. Everyone else try and plug the holes."

The others nodded. Sonic turned to Knuckles.

"You ready?" He asked.

The Echidna looked far from happy. "This isn't fair." He grumbled.

"Call it karma for mocking me." Sonic smirked.

Together he, Knuckles and Shadow shot into the emerald causing it to smash into hundreds of tiny pieces. They instantly scattered.

The ships warning lights flashed red and the whole carrier juddered. Sonic and the team had no time to stop. Silver and Blaze shot through the largest hole and began patching it up from the outside. Inside Sonic and the others tried to cover the holes with anything they could. As Sonic shot from gap to gap he had an overwhelming feeling that this was it. He was going to die here with his friends.

He thought about them all and what they meant to him. Although his life had been blighted by battles with Eggman he had always been lucky to have so many good people with him. If he died today he would have almost no regrets.

The carrier seemed to pick up speed and they were all thrown forwards down a steep incline. Looking over Sonic could see his friends huddled together. Knuckles had a protective arm around Rouge, Tangle held Whisper in an embrace. His eyes locked onto Shadow who finally nodded his approval to Sonic.

"BRACE!" Tails yelled over the tannoy.

This was it. Sonic closed his eyes and thought of his one regret.

"Amy." He whispered to himself.

Everything around him went dark.


	12. Chapter 12

Sonic stood staring down at the town. In its center Santa was handing out presents to rosy cheeked children whilst the elves decorated the tree. He couldn't help notice that two of the elves resembled Tangle and Whisper. Two cherub like figures of Tails and Rouge dangled over everyone as a train rattled past carrying a load of neatly wrapped presents. On closer inspection Shadow was driving. Sonic scanned the display for his own figure and his eyes narrowed. Some joker had put him and Knuckles in a compromising positing under the mistletoe.

He sighed and made his way outside. It had been a few days since the crash. Thankfully, due to Tails piloting skills and the efforts of Sonics other friends they had all survived with no more than a few cuts and bruises. The Egg carrier had come down a short distance from sunset heights and the town was saved. After checking his friends were all safe sonic had run off in search of Eggman and Starline but without success. As Tails pointed out later, having access to the carriers computer system was an unprecedented victory or the restoration. The evil doctor was likely to be in hiding for some time.

Having helped Tails extract the data they needed Sonic had decided it was time they all took a break. After all, it was Christmas.

Christmas eve in fact and as Sonic stepped out into snow covered town square a choir struck up the first notes of 'silent night.' As a thankyou for saving them all the towns children had decided to put on a concert. In the front row Sonic could see Cream, with Cheese on her shoulder in perfect harmony with the other singers. Even Sonic had to admit it was pretty magical. Beside Cream a little lioness caught sight of Sonic and turned bright red. He smiled and made his way through the crowd to his friends.

Tails eyes were filled with wide eyed wonder at the sight of the Christmas lights and the sound of the carols. The little foxes tails swayed in time with the melody and his eyes darted to the bag in Sonics arms as the hedgehog approached.

"No peeking." Sonic warned, wagging a finger.

Tails grinned excitedly and turned back to the show. At the front Sonic could see Silver and Blaze had stuck around to experience what Silver had dubbed 'an old fashioned Christmas.' As the Grey hedgehogs eyes wandered to the mistletoe hanging in garlands above their heads Sonic wondered if that was all Silver was keen to experience this Christmas.

He felt a movement beside him and turned to see Amy, wrapped in a warm red coat sidle in beside him. Why was his mouth suddenly dry?

Amy sighed. "How can you not love Christmas?" she asked him?

Sonic risked a sideways glance at her sparking emerald eyes.

"I'm starting to see the attraction." He murmured.

Having finally followed Dr Clovers instructions Amy had spent the last few days resting at home. Sonic had to say she looked much better for it and was almost back to her old self. Still, he couldn't help but notice her wince slightly as she was jostled by the crowd. He put a protective arm around her.

Realising how it might look to others he reached his other arm around Tails and pulled both friends in tight to him.

"Merry Christmas." He said softly as the music softly rose to a crescendo.

Amy met his eye and smiled wistfully. "May all of your dreams come true."

x

The toyshop owner elbowed her way through the swelling crowd of shoppers to her window display and frowned. She was almost certain she had seen Sonic the hedgehog. THE Sonic the hedgehog over here moving things. But as her beady eyes passed over her toy town the Shopkeeper saw nothing wrong. Shadows train was doing its loop, Tails and Rouge were keeping their vigil, Tangle and Whisper were handing out presents and high above them all Sonic and Amy were clinched in a loving embrace. Everything was as it should be.

The end

x

Thank you all for the kind reviews and likes. Have a very happy Christmas and please join me for the sequel: 'The thirteenth card.'

When Amy finds her old tarot cards in the attic she is plagued by nightmares and questions about her past. With Sonic out helping Knuckles restore the master emerald Amy and Tails set off to explore her past and work out why she has no memory of life before Sonic.

The truth has life threatening consequences for them all and Sonic faces a race against time to save not just his friends, but the whole world from the evil Emperor Rose.


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